Brain changes in sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy observed from wakefulness and N2 sleep: A matched case-control study

Changqiong Zhou; Chenxi Qiu; Chunge Pan; Yan Li; Yingying Tang; Ziyi Chen; Ying Liu; Sijia Guo; Jing Lu; Bo Yan; Xiaoting Hao

doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2024.12.020

Brain changes in sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy observed from wakefulness and N2 sleep: A matched case-control study

Clin Neurophysiol. 2025 Jan 20:171:31-37. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2024.12.020. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Changqiong Zhou¹, Chenxi Qiu², Chunge Pan³, Yan Li², Yingying Tang³, Ziyi Chen², Ying Liu², Sijia Guo², Jing Lu², Bo Yan⁴, Xiaoting Hao⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan, China; Department of Neurology, Liangshan Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Liangshan 615000, Sichuan, China.
² Key Lab for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, Sichuan, China.
³ Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan, China.
⁴ Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan, China; Department of Neurology, Chengdu Shangjin Nanfu Hospital, Chengdu 611730, Sichuan, China. Electronic address: yanbo96@163.com.
⁵ Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan, China. Electronic address: sherryhao@wchscu.cn.

PMID: 39862840
DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2024.12.020

Abstract

Objective: Sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy (SHE) is a relatively uncommon epilepsy syndrome, characterized by seizures closely related to the sleep cycle. This study aims to explore interictal electroencephalographic (EEG) characteristics in SHE.

Methods: We compared EEG data from 20 patients with SHE, 20 patients with focal epilepsy (FE), and 14 healthy controls, carefully matched for age, sex, education level, epilepsy duration, and drug-resistant epilepsy.

Results: Our findings revealed distinct patterns of power spectral density in SHE patients during wakefulness and N2 sleep compared to other groups, suggesting potential diagnostic value. During wakefulness, SHE patients showed enhanced frontal lobe power across all frequency bands, but decreased frontal lobe power in low-frequency bands during N2 sleep. Additionally, a positive correlation was found between frontal γ band power and epilepsy duration in SHE patients during N2 sleep but not during wakefulness.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that interictal EEG abnormalities during wakefulness and N2 sleep might be used as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of SHE.

Significance: This study is the first to simultaneously characterize EEG during sleep and wakefulness in SHE patients during interictal periods, with potential utility for diagnosis.

Keywords: EEG; Non-rapid-eye-movement; Sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy; Wakefulness.