[Electroencephalogram of patients with the idiopathic edema syndrome]

Patients (45) aged from 19 to 52 years with the syndrome of idiopathic edema were examined by the electroencephalographic method. The great majority of the patients displayed a distinct increase of the theta-activity with some reduction of the alpha-activity. Such shift in the frequency composition could be interpreted as a reflection of the involvement of diencephalic structures into the pathological process. An extreme irregularity of the frequency and the amplitude of the main rhythm was revealed in 14 of 45 patients on the EEG; this, in combination with clinical symptoms, led to a supposition that the regulatory functions of the hypothalamus were disturbed.