[The case of prominent EEG sleeping activity in thalamic stroke patients]

Presented here is a clinical case of thalamic stroke which affected mainly non-specific thalamic regions. In acute disease stage, the patient exhibited a prominent psychopathological features, slight hemihypoaesthesia and sleep disturbances. Polysomnography confirmed the disturbances of sleep structure: the increase of sleep onset latency, number of awakenings, waking time and stage 1 duration, decrease of both deep sleep stages (3 and 4) and REM sleep. Visual analysis revealed EEG spindle asymmetry in stage 2 of the first sleep cycle, with sleep spindles predominating in the undamaged hemisphere. Spectral EEG analysis confirmed the presence of power asymmetry not only in the sigma-band but also in the other band ranges. This clinical case allows discussing the role of the thalamus in generation of quiet sleep EEG phenomena.