An eight-year-old boy is reported who presented with a progressive mental deterioration
in the years following a nocturnal asymmetrical generalized tonic-clonic seizure.
The diagnosis of continuous spikes and waves during slow sleep (CSWS) was made. Once
a month a sleep recording was made during twenty-two consecutive months and detailed
neuropsychological studies were made over a period of 30 months. Intensive antiepileptic
treatment resulted in the disappearance of the CSWS and in a recovery from intellectual-,
language- and behavioural disturbances. The good results were still present at a follow-up
examination 30 months later.
EEG - Sleep - Epilepsy - Mental retardation
