Polysomnographic and computerized waking-sleep research in epileptic petit mal absences

The authors carried out 8 hours of continuous night polysomnographic recordings in 40 selected cases with various forms of absences. In all these patients, the computerized electroencephalographic mappings were performed according to several methods achieved by the authors. The nocturnal electrographic abnormalities, the morphological patterns of the epileptic discharges during different sleep stages and the cortical computerized cartography were comparatively analysed in the five groups of patients: 1) genuine (pure, classical or simple) petit mal (PM) absences: 8 cases; 2) myoclonic PM absences: 10 cases; 3) amyotonic-akinetic PM absences: 6 cases; 4) "false" temporal epileptic absences: 10 cases; 5) "hybrid" (or "bastard") PM absences in 6 cases with Lennox-Gastaut disease.