Long-Lasting Post-Traumatic Unconsciousness. A Study Based on Nocturnal EEG and Polygraphic Recording

摘要

An attempt was made to seek information of diagnostic and prognostic interest in post-traumatic coma by the study of one of the primordial and basic manifestations of the functioning of the central nervous system: the wakefulness and sleep cycle. The study was based on electropolygraphic recording, including the electroencephalogram, eye movements, electrical activity of some muscular masses, respiratory and heart frequency. Protracted examinations were made. Twenty-two patients have been studied, all of them suffering from long-lasting or 'chronic' comatose state due to head injury. The examinations started at least 15 days after head injury. A good sleep structure some atypical manifestations of sleep or the complete absence of any sleep sign could be found. A certain relation between presence and degree of organization of the sleep patterns, on one hand and degree of consciousness impairments, on the other, was apparent. Presence, degree of organization, and evolution of the sleep patterns were to a certain extent related to the evolution of the comatose state: the better organization of sleep, the greater the chance of a favorable clinical evolution and vice versa.