Model System:

Burn

Reference Type:

Journal

Accession No.:

J77657

Journal:


Annals of Rehabilitation Medicine

Year, Volume, Issue, Page(s):

, 41, 4, 693-700

Publication Website:

Abstract:

Study compared the electroencephalography (EEG) activity in burn patients experiencing chronic itching (pruritus) and their paired healthy subjects to investigate the cortical reorganizational changes associated with pruritus. This study employed the use of quantitative EEG (qEEG) to analyze the changes in brainwave power in eight subjects: 4 patients with pruritus after burn injury and 4 gender- and age-matched healthy subjects. During the EEG recordings, subjects were asked to close their eyes, but remain awake, while sitting still in a chair, staying relaxed in a quiet room for 5 minutes. An EEG recording was then run under the same conditions, but with eyes open for 5 minutes. EEG recordings were analyzed for absolute alpha, low beta, high beta, and theta power for both groups. A decreased alpha activity was observed in the occipital channels (0.82 versus 1.4) and a decreased low beta activity in the frontal area (0.22 versus 0.4) in eyes closed conditions. An overall decreased theta trend was observed in both the eyes open and eyes closed conditions in burn patients, compared to healthy individuals. The results provide preliminary evidence that chronic pruritus in burn subjects is associated with brain reorganizational changes at the cortical level, characterized by an EEG pattern.

Author(s):


Miraval, Fiorella K., Shie, Vivan L., Morales-Quezada, Leon, Santiago, Carolina, Fernandes-Marcondes, Bianca, Nadler, Deborah, Ryan, Colleen M., Schneider, Jeffrey C., Fregni, Felipe

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