Jactatio nocturna after head injury.
Nocturnal head banging or body rocking often occurs in childhood in relation to sleep, and is generally considered a developmental or behavioral disorder. A few cases of jactatio nocturna have been considered manifestations of sleep disorder, and an analogy to somnambulism and pavor nocturnus has been suggested. We observed episodes of jactatio nocturna in a patient with global encephalopathy and frontal lobe dysfunction after closed head injury, and successfully treated these with imipramine. Sleep disorders are increasingly recognized after head injury; jactatio nocturna must be differentiated from post-traumatic seizures, and may represent partial or defective arousal during light non-REM sleep, analogous to the parasomnias of deeper sleep and possibly representing dysfunction of frontal arousal mechanisms.
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Drake
D000293:Adolescent; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009068:Movement; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*