Polysomnographic and long-term video electroencephalographic evaluation of cases presenting with parasomnias

The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical, electroencephalographic and polysomnographic features of patients presenting with parasomnias. Cases who were admitted for differentiating parasomnias from epilepsy were included in the study. Clinical features of cases were recorded and routine sleep electroencephalography was obtained from all cases. Cases whose symptoms strongly suggested nocturnal seizure underwent all night video electroencephalography monitoring. Polysomnography was obtained to evaluate the quality of breathing from patients whose symptoms suggested obstructive sleep apnea. Twenty-three patients with no neurological disorder were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 11.7 +/- A 2.8 [7-17] years. Twelve patients (52 %) presented with sleep terrors and 11 patients (48 %) presented with sleep walking. All of the patients underwent a routine sleep electroencephalographic study and 15 patients (65 %) whose symptoms strongly suggested nocturnal epilepsy underwent long-term video electroencephalographic evaluation. Ten patients (43 %) underwent polysomnographic study. Three patients (20 %) who underwent long-term video electroencephalographic evaluation were diagnosed to have nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy and two patients (20 %) who underwent polysomnography had pathological sleep apnea. Eleven patients (48 %) had a psychiatric disorder like major depression, anxiety disorder, hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Childhood cases presenting with parasomnias should be searched for nocturnal epileptic disorders, sleep disordered breathing and psychiatric disorders.