A Review of EEG and MEG Epileptic Spike Detection Algorithms

Epilepsy is one of the most serious disorders that affect patients' daily lives. When seizures occur, patients cannot control their behaviors, which can lead to serious injuries. With the great advances in recording both electroencephalogram (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) signals, it has become possible to analyze these signals in an automated manner for information extraction to help in seizure detection and prediction. Both EEG and MEG recordings of epilepsy patients contain spikes that can be used for the localization of epileptogenic zones, efficient onset detection, and even, in some cases, prediction. In this paper, we consider the characteristics of EEG and MEG spikes, present a discussion of the importance of spike detection in both signal modalities, and provide a review of spike detection algorithms. Since EEG signals have been widely used for decades, most of the algorithms presented in this paper cover the EEG spike detection methods. Few works in the literature are dedicated to MEG spike detection. Nevertheless, we assert that with some modifications, a considerable number of EEG spike detection algorithms can be applied to MEG signals. We classify the spike detection algorithms according to the domain used for processing the signal. Finally, we conclude with future research directions and open problems in this area.