Paradoxic sleep facilitation by interictal epileptic activity of right temporal origin.
The influence of very intensive interictal epileptic activity of right temporal and temporooccipital origin on rapid eye movement (REM) sleep was examined. A group of 15 epileptic patients with prevalence of partial complex symptomatology, whose focus of extensive pathological activity was located in the above-mentioned areas, were polysomnographically explored. Their polysomnograms were compared to the polysomnographic analyses of 10 patients with similar contralateral pathological activity and with those of 15 healthy persons. The results seemed to indicate that there is a specific complementary relationship between the right temporal and temporooccipital activity on the one hand and REM sleep on the other hand. REM sleep provokes right temporal pathological changes more strongly than that of contralateral origin, and this right temporal activity has a positive feedback effect on the REM sleep by which it had been provoked. The consequence is a significant increase in the duration of REM sleep, with all the associated physiological and psychological influences of this state of consciousness.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013997:Time Factors