Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are spectrum of neurodevelopmental conditions associated with prenatal alcohol exposure. The FASD manifests mostly with facial dysmorphism, prenatal and postnatal growth retardation, and selected birth defects (including central nervous system defects). Unrecognized and untreated FASD leads to severe disability in adulthood. The diagnosis of FASD is based on clinical criteria and neither biomarkers nor imaging tests can be used in order to confirm the diagnosis. The quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) is a type of EEG analysis, which involves the use of mathematical algorithms, and which has brought new possibilities of EEG signal evaluation, among the other things-the analysis of a specific frequency band. The main objective of this study was to identify characteristic patterns in QEEG among individuals affected with FASD. This study was of a pilot prospective study character with experimental group consisting of patients with newly diagnosed FASD and of the control group consisting of children with gastroenterological issues. The EEG recordings of both groups were obtained, than analyzed using a commercial QEEG module. As a results we were able to establish the dominance of the alpha rhythm over the beta rhythm in FASD-participants compared to those from the control group, mostly in frontal and temporal regions. Second important finding is an increased theta/beta ratio among patients with FASD. These findings are consistent with the current knowledge on the pathological processes resulting from the prenatal alcohol exposure. The obtained results and conclusions were promising, however, further research is necessary (and planned) in order to validate the use of QEEG tools in FASD diagnostics.

Department of Automatic Control and Robotics AGH University of Science and Technology 30 059 Kraków Poland

Department of Cybernetics and Biomedical Engineering VSB Technical University Ostrava FEECS 708 00 Ostrava Poruba Czech Republic

Department of Neurosurgery Vital Medic 46 200 Kluczbork Poland

Department of Pathophysiology Jagiellonian University in Krakow Collegium Medicum 31 121 Kraków Poland

Faculty of Electrical Engineering Automatic Control and Informatics Opole University of Technology 45 758 Opole Poland

School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences University of Greenwich London SE10 9LS UK

St Louis Children Hospital in Krakow 30 663 Kraków Poland

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