Synopsis

Electroencephalography (EEG) has a long history at The Royal Children’s Hospital. From its beginnings in the pre-imaging era as simple paper recordings of brain waves in children with various neurological disorders, EEG has evolved to a specialised discipline within neurophysiology, drawing on the many advances in clinical neurology, computerisation and neuroimaging. Today, EEG is utilised throughout the hospital, primarily in the management of children with seizures and altered conscious states.  The development of modern EEG services at RCH has been the result of many collaborations between medical scientists, clinicians, support services, philanthropy, industry and research groups, within and outside the Hospital.  Dr Harvey will discuss past, current and future applications of EEG in children, and highlight some of the challenges faced with providing the services at RCH.

Speaker

Dr Simon Harvey is a paediatric neurologist with special expertise in epilepsy surgery, EEG and neuroimaging. He is the clinical lead of the epilepsy program at The Royal Children’s Hospital, and an honorary research fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the University of Melbourne, and the Florey Neuroscience Institutes.  Dr Harvey is a Past President of the Epilepsy Society of Australia and a past member of many committees and taskforces of the International League Against Epilepsy.  Dr Harvey’s clinical and research interests include childhood epilepsy, EEG, MRI and epilepsy surgery, areas in which he has more than 150 publications in peer-reviewed journals and books.