Utility and safety of epilepsy monitoring unit in an inpatient psychiatric setting in Japan

An epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) with long-term video electroencephalographic monitoring (LTVEM) was launched in our psychiatric ward to facilitate close examination of patients with epilepsy and offer hospital experience to psychiatrists unfamiliar with epilepsy care in Japan. This study aimed to examine the usefulness and safety of the EMU in an inpatient psychiatric setting in Japan by retrospectively reviewing the clinical notes of EMU admission cases in the psychiatric ward of the University of Tokyo Hospital between August 2014 and March 2020. The usefulness of the EMU was evaluated in terms of 1) habitual seizure recordings, 2) change in diagnosis, 3) frequency of epileptic seizures, and 4) surgical cases after EMU admission, and 5) EMU safety. Habitual events were recorded during LTVEM in 69 % of patients. The diagnosis was changed post-EMU evaluation in 28 % of the patients admitted for differential diagnosis. Among 41 patients who received anti-seizure medications, seizure frequency improved in 22 (53 %), whereas 10 (24 %) became seizure-free, and seizures were reduced by >50 % in 12 (29 %). Eleven patients eventually underwent surgery for epilepsy. Among the total 134 patients, 13 (10 %) experienced adverse events during EMU stay and 6 experienced falls, but none required prolonged hospitalization. Furthermore, three patients had panic attacks, but no post-ictal psychiatric symptoms were observed. Admission to an EMU in the psychiatric setting can facilitate accurate diagnosis and improve epilepsy management. Fall prevention measures should be implemented during and after LTVEM for safer EMU evaluations.