Polysomnographic study of sleeplessness and oneiricisms in the alcohol withdrawal syndrome.
We describe a polysomnographic observation of the acute phase of the alcohol withdrawal syndrome, characterized by an alteration of the sleep-wake cycle and by the absence of non-rapid eye movement sleep. An atypical transitional state between rapid eye movement sleep and wake with hallucinations and enacting-dream behaviors represented the sole sleep pattern. Analogies of alcohol withdrawal syndrome with fatal familial insomnia and Morvan's fibrillary chorea suggest a common pathophysiological mechanism in these conditions.
Institute of Clinical Neurology, University of Bologna, via Ugo Foscolo 7, 40123 Bologna, Italy. plazzi@neuro.unibo.it
Giuseppe
G
Plazzi
Pasquale
P
Montagna
Stefano
S
Meletti
Elio
E
Lugaresi