Educational simulation of the electroencephalogram (EEG)

We describe a model for simulating a spontaneous electroencephalogram (EEG) and for simulating the effects of anesthesia on the EEG, to allow anesthesiologists and EEG technicians to learn and practice intraoperative EEG monitoring. For this purpose, we developed a linear model to manipulate the amplitude of the activity in each of the traditional EEG frequency bands. Burst suppression patterns are simulated by manipulating an overall gain. To demonstrate the model feasibility, model parameters for thiopental and isoflurane were estimated guided by published data on the EEG effects of these anesthetic drugs. Using these estimates, EEG time signals were simulated for isoflurane at various partial pressures, and for bolus intravenous doses of thiopental. Comparison with actual recorded EEG signals showed that the changes produced by isoflurane and thiopental in the simulated signals are very similar to the changes in the actual signals, which was confirmed by two clinicians with experience and routine practice in intraoperative EEG monitoring.