[Sleep disorders found in organic brain diseases].

Sleep disorder is one of the commonest symptoms in organic brain diseases. Recent progresses in sleep medicine have identified some specific sleep syndromes such as sleep apnea syndrome, or nocturnal myoclonus syndrome. However, pathophysiological mechanism of sleep disorders associated with organic brain diseases have not been clarified. There have been few papers that addressed relation between sleep symptoms and areas of brain damage in organic brain diseases. In this article, I reviewed recent papers on sleep disorders associated with organic brain diseases. Special attention was paid on pathophysiology of the sleep disorders in such conditions.