[Prognostication of neonates by compact polygraphy (author's transl)].

The polygraphic methods currently available for the prognostication of high risk neonates are timeconsuming, almost inaccessible to visual analysis and unsuited for clinical practice. A polygraphic method has been devised using a restricted number of standardized evaluation criteria arranged according to optimalisation principles with a reduction of observation time to three sleep cycles to an average of 90 minutes. Using this type of "compact polygraphy" 135 newborn infants were divided in a "simple" and a "complicated" group. Their follow-up over the first year of life showed that abnormal EEG-tracing and/or clinical manifestations of early epilepsy occurred only in infants classified as complicated. No seizures occurred in the simple group. 40% of the patients with complicated prognostication showed neurological abnormalities vs. 8% in the simple group, confirming the prognostic value of compact polygraphy. Since the risk of developing epilepsy was 20% in newborns with postnatal seizures and complicated prognostication, preventive treatment with antiepileptic drugs is recommended in these infants. On the other hand newborns with postnatal seizures and simple prognostication can be spared the longtime exposure to barbiturates or other anticonvulsants. From our data it appears that compact polygraphy is clinically feasible and has a higher predictive accuracy than any of other currently available practical prognostication methods.