Application of spectral entropy to EEG and facial EMG frequency bands for the assessment of level of sedation in ICU.

The applicability and performance of spectral entropy as a measure of the depth of sedation was studied by comparison to the Richmond sedation and agitation scale (RASS). A biopotential signal was measured from the forehead of eight ICU patients. From this biopotential four different frequency bands were defined using trend fitting to the low and high frequency limits of the pooled power spectra, two frequency bands representing EEG and the other two representing fEMG. The spectral entropy from the EEG bands correlated very well with the sedation levels of RASS. From levels 0 to -5 the decrease was almost linear (r=0.51 and r=0.53). A similar comparison for the spectral entropy of the fEMG bands did not produce any clear correlation (r=0.07 for both fEMG bands), however there was still some clear interaction at some levels. It seems that the RASS is dependent upon both EEG and fEMG effects. That is; RASS is related to both cortical and sub-cortical components of sedation.