An EEG, or electroencephalogram, is a recording of the electrical activity your brain produces. Small electrodes on the scalp pick up those signals, which are displayed as waveforms. It measures function rather than structure, and it is painless and non-invasive.
An EEG, or electroencephalogram, is a recording of the electrical activity your brain produces. Small electrodes on the scalp pick up those signals, which are displayed as waveforms. It measures function rather than structure, and it is painless and non-invasive.
Brain cells communicate electrically, and that activity creates small voltage changes detectable at the scalp. An EEG records those changes over time as a series of waveforms. Nothing is put into your body and nothing is sent into your brain; the electrodes are entirely passive listeners. That is why it is painless and why it can be repeated as often as needed. Normal activity has recognisable rhythms that change predictably between eyes-open, eyes-closed and drowsy states.
This is the distinction that explains what an EEG is for. An MRI or CT scan shows what the brain looks like. An EEG shows how it is behaving electrically. The two answer different questions and cannot substitute for each other: someone can have a normal scan with clearly abnormal electrical activity, and someone can have a visible structural abnormality with a normal EEG. When a clinician orders both, it is because each contributes something the other cannot.
The main use is investigating possible seizures, where it helps establish whether abnormal electrical activity is present, classify the seizure type, and indicate where seizures may be starting. It is also used in assessing unexplained episodes of altered awareness and certain forms of confusion. Routine EEG records a short period in the office; ambulatory EEG records over several days. Both are performed at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices and interpreted by the ordering neurologist.
Clinical Neurology Specialists has been physician-owned since 1998, when Leo Germin, M.D., FAANEM founded it. Five board-certified neurologists and four advanced practice providers see patients at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices, each with its own AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratory.
Clinical Neurology Specialists is an adult outpatient neurology practice for patients 18 and older. The practice performs no surgery and operates no imaging suite, infusion suite or interventional pain programme, and provides no emergency or inpatient care.
Physician-reviewed. Reviewed by the physicians of Clinical Neurology Specialists — board-certified neurologists, AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratories, physician-owned since 1998. Reviewed 1 August 2026. This article is general education for adults 18 and older and is not a substitute for a consultation.
Sources and further reading: MedlinePlus: electroencephalogram (EEG); MedlinePlus: epilepsy; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Adults 18 and older, at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices. Call 702-804-1212 or request an appointment online.