ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY, FREQUENCY ANALYSIS, AND CONSCIOUSNESS

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Abstract
Ten psychiatric patients receiving insulin treatment were studied with periodic observation of their tested level of consciousness and of their eeg frequency analysis patterns. The results indicate the following facts: The eeg pattern during insulin-induced coma is not distinctive for coma, but becomes predominant while the patient still maintains good contact with his environment. In the 8 patients who reached coma, the coma eeg pattern was dominant for an average of 120 minutes prior to the onset of coma. The same eeg pattern existed in the 2 patients who only reached pre-coma. The eeg pattern during the insulin-induced coma is largely composed of high voltage 3-5 cps activity. Alpha activity diminishes to an average of 44% of its initial value while the patient is in insulin induced coma. This reduction, however, takes place more than 2 hours before the onset of coma and remains stable thereafter. Because of the concomitant increase in amount and voltage of slow activity, the alpha activity in coma comprises a proportionally smaller percentage of total electrical activity, and the amount of alpha activity cannot usually be judged by visual inspection of the regular eeg tracings.

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