Frequency-temporal characteristics of sleep spindles in IGE with variable phenotypes in adults

A Mathematical Wave Analysis was conducted to study the frequency-temporal characteristics of sleep spindles in idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) with variable phenotypes in adults. In resistant generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS), the maximum duration of the stationary part of the sleep spindle in the 10–12Hz frequency band in the frontal and parietal regions was greater with Juvenile Absence Epilepsy compared with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy and IGE with isolated GTCS. In patients with GTCS remission who took antiepileptic drugs (AED’s) in the anamnesis, the frequency-time characteristics of the sleep spindle were not different. In the entire group, the maximum duration of the stationary part of the sleep spindles in patients with IGE with a variable phenotype receiving AED’s was significantly less than in patients who stopped receiving AED’s. The revealed differences in the duration of the stationary part of the sleep spindles are due to various pathogenetic mechanisms underlying the different types of generalized seizures in adults, and can be used to refine the subtype of the IGE and evaluate the efficacy of the AED’s.