Screen-printed EEG electrode set for emergency use

• Disposable screen-printed EEG electrode set, called BrainStatus, was developed.
• BrainStatus can be applied easily and quickly without neurophysiological expertise.
• Despite of simple design and ease of use, the electrical performance was found comparable with traditional electrodes.
• BrainStatus was demonstrated to allow MRI and CT imaging without clinically significant artifacts.
• Simple and robust design may be well suited for mass production.

There is a need for an easy-to-use EEG electrode set allowing that EEG could be recorded immediately when an unconscious patient arrives at the emergency room. In addition, easy-to-use EEG electrode sets could be useful in many situations in intensive care unit, e.g., for long-term monitoring of patients with status epilepticus. In this study, we developed a novel disposable screen-printed EEG electrode set, called here BrainStatus, which consists of 16 hydrogel-coated electrodes (12 recording, 2 reference and 2 ground electrodes) and evaluated its performance by signal quality measurements and EEG recordings in two patients. The quality of EEG signal was excellent even without abrading of skin and comparable to EEG recorded with conventional cup electrodes. The clinical referral question could be answered in both cases based solely on recordings with BrainStatus. BrainStatus was demonstrated to allow MRI and CT imaging without any signs of significant imaging artifacts. We consider that the introduced screen-printed EEG electrode set may be a solution for EEG registrations when the conventional 10–20 electrode setup is not available or feasible. However, further studies with a larger number of patients are warranted to clarify the true diagnostic accuracy and applicability of this approach.