ASSESSMENT OF CEREBRAL PERFUSION USING QUANTITATIVE EEG CORDANCE

Brain electrical activity is related to cerebral perfusion. The nature of this relationship is unclear, however, and surface-recorded activity has not been a reliable indicator of brain perfusion. We studied 27 subjects, all of whom were examined with single photon emission tomography (SPECT) and quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG), to assess associations between QEEG cordance and relative brain perfusion. Cordance has two indicator states: concordance, which may indicate high perfusion; and discordance, which may indicate low perfusion. We used multiple linear regression to assess the association between cordance and SPECT values, and found that cordance values were strongly associated with tissue perfusion. Concordance in the a band was associated both with mean tissue perfusion and the volume of normally perfused tissue, and it had a stronger association with perfusion than any other QEEG variable. Discordance in the beta(1) band was associated with mean perfusion, and it had a stronger association than did relative but not absolute power. These data suggest that cordance may be useful for the noninvasive assessment of brain perfusion.