[Electrophysiological pattern of sleep after stroke].

The aim of the study was electrophysiological recording of sleep in patients after damage to the right or left cerebral hemisphere after stroke. The studied material comprised 15 patients ages 45 to 75 years, ten of whom had ischaemic stroke in the area of vascularization of the middle cerebral artery as confirmed by CT. In 5 cases the left and in 5 the right hemisphere was damaged. Five patients without organic brain changes served as controls. Sleep study was carried out 4 weeks after stroke, the patients were EEG-monitored during 9 hours of sleep. In stroke patients disruption of the normal pattern of EEG during sleep was found, with absence of sleep cycles and disturbed sequence of these stages. Changes were noted also in the durations of stages N-REM, REM, WASO. In left hemisphere damage the duration of N-REM was shorter, and that of REM was longer than in cases with right hemisphere damage and in controls. After stroke the per cent proportion of the first stage of sleep N-REM was higher mainly in right-sided lesions, while the per cent proportions of stages II and III + IV were lower than in controls. The latency of sleep onset and onset of the first REM was evidently shorter after stroke.