Journal of the Japan Epilepsy Society
Online ISSN : 1347-5509
Print ISSN : 0912-0890
ISSN-L : 0912-0890
Review
Epilepsy and Sleep
Masaaki Kato
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2001 Volume 19 Issue 3 Pages 163-177

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Abstract
Several important characteristics of sleep associated with epilepsy are reviewd. 1) All night sleep analysis revealed that short episodes of awakening and sleep stage shift often increased and REM sleep is often decreased in epileptic patients. 2) Both generalized tonic-clonic seizure and complex partial seizure cause reduction of REM sleep. 3) Ten to thirty percent of epileptic patients are classified into so-called sleep epilepsy. About a half of them are pure sleep epilepsy, having seizures exclusively in sleep. One-third of pure sleep epileptic patients achieves a seizure-free outcome and an another one-third develops seizures also in wakefulness during their clinical courses. 4) Generalized tonic-clonic seizures of idiopathic generalized epilepsy occur predominantly during Non-REM sleep and never occur during REM sleep. Complex partial seizures occur predominantly during Non-REM sleep and rarely during REM sleep. Some complex partial seizures tend to occur in a transitional period between Non-REM and REM sleep. 5) In the majority of epileptic patients, interictal spiking rate increases during Non-REM sleep and decreases during REM sleep. 6) Nocturnal paroxysmal dystonia is described as parasomnia in the International Classification of Sleep Disorders. However, its epileptic nature has recently been cralified in many studies. Definition of nocturnal paroxysmal dystonia need careful re-examination.
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© 2001 by the Japan Epilepsy Society
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