Entropies of the EEG: The effects of general anaesthesia

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to compare the performance of different entropy estimators when applied to EEG data taken from patients during routine induction of general anesthesia. The question then arose as to how and why different EEG patterns could affect the different estimators. Therefore we also compared how the different entropy estimators responded to artificially generated signals with predetermined, known, characteristics. This was done by applying the entropy algorithms to pseudoEEG data: (1) computer-generated using a second-order autoregressive (AR2) model, (2) computer-generated white noise added to step signals simulating blink and eyemovement artifacts and, (3) seeing the effect of exogenous (computer-generated) sine-wave oscillations added to the actual clinically-derived EEG data set from patients undergoing induction of anesthesia.