Nontraumatic "spindle coma": clinical, EEG, and prognostic features.

"Spindle coma" denotes the association of alteration of consciousness with electroencephalographic (EEG) activity resembling slow-wave sleep. Clinical, EEG, and pathologic data were reviewed for 36 patients with this syndrome, who were divided into two groups, based on the level of consciousness at the time of the initial neurologic evaluation. Fifteen patients were stuporous or semicomatose; none exhibited abnormalities of brainstem motor function, and 14 survived. Twenty-one patients were comatose; 20 had abnormalities of brainstem motor function, and only 4 survived. The outcome of nontraumatic spindle coma is unfavorable when the patient is fully comatose and brainstem motor function is impaired.