Amplitude integrated electroencephalography in the full-term newborn.

Amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) is beginning to play an important role in the care of full-term infants who have neonatal encephalopathy. The three main features an aEEG provides include (1) the background pattern, showing the activity at admission to the neonatal intensive care unit and the rate of recovery during the first 24 to 48 hours after birth; (2) the presence or absence of sleep-wake cycling; and (3) the presence of most electrographic discharges.