HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Correspondence: Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Correspondence are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by WHITE, J. C. Articles by PEDLEY, T. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by WHITE, J. C. Articles by PEDLEY, T. A.

Benign epileptiform transients of sleep

Clarification of the small sharp spike controversy

Department of Neurology, Stanford University School of Medicine, and the Sections of Neurology, San Jose Medical Clinic and the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

Electroencephalograms were performed on 120 normal subjects sleep deprived for 24 hours. Twenty-four percent of the volunteers exhibited one or more epileptiform transients during stages 1 or 2 of non-rapid eye movement sleep. These potentials usually appeared as monophasic or diphasic spikes unaccompanied by sharp waves or focal slowing. When abundant, they occurred sporadically and independently over both hemispheres but were best developed in the anteromesial temporal regions. A 20 percent incidence of similar spikes was found in 599 consecutively referred patients recorded under the same conditions. We conclude that these epileptiform transients of sleep, which have been called "small sharp spikes," are normal and are of no diagnostic value in the evaluation of patients with seizures.

Reprint requests should be addressed to Dr. Pedley, Department of Neurology, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA 94305.

This study was supported in part by grants from the USPHS (NSI1075), the Morris Fund for Neurological Research, the San Jose Medical Research Foundation, and the Institute for Medical Research of Santa Clara County (Grant #237).

Presented in part at the twenty-ninth annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, April 1977, Atlanta, and at the Ninth International Congress of Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, September 1977, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Accepted for publication March 21, 1977.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				N. Boutros, H. A. Mirolo, and F. Struve Normative Data for the Unquantified EEG: Examination of Adequacy for Neuropsychiatric Research J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci, February 1, 2005; 17(1): 84 - 90. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]