A case of PANDAS with Kleine–Levin type periodic hypersomnia

Kleine-Levin syndrome. Clinical boarderlands based on a thorough analysis of 475 case reports

OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND

Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS) is a rare sleep disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of severe hypersomnolence in association with various degrees of cognitive impairment, perceptive abnormalities, apathy, behavioral disturbances. Some of these symptoms, hypersomnolence, compulsive eating and increased sexual drive may be replaced by their opposites or alternate with them. Remarkably enough, these « atypical symptoms » have never been enlighted nor compared in frequency with corresponding typical symptoms. Besides, KLS is more frequent in males than in females but no review has ever compared the frequency of precipitating factors and symptoms in males and females.

PATIENTS/METHODS

To uncover these as yet uninvestigated aspects of KLS, a predesigned template was used to extract precipitating factors and symptoms, in 475 case reports of KLS, comprising 364 males and 111 females.

RESULTS

Precipitating factors were more frequently recorded in males (67.31 %) than in females (49.55 %). Recurrent episodes of hypersomnolencee were present in 94.32 % of cases, recurrent insomnia in 1.05 % and alternation of hypersomnolence and insomnia in 4.63 %. Cognitive impairment was present in 67.37 % of cases and absent in 6.95 %. Derealization/altered perception was present in 38.32 % of cases and absent in 1.68 %. Severe apathy was present in 44.63 % of cases. Compulsive eating was present in 59.58 % of cases, absent in 13.26 %, replaced by anorexia in 9.05 %, alternation of compulsive eating and anorexia in 5.68 % and alternation of compulsive eating and no compulsive eating in 8.42 %. Increased sexual drive was present in 33.68 % of cases, absent in 22.74 %, replaced by decreased sexual drive in 1.47 %, alternation of increased sexual drive and no increased sexual drive in 2.95 %. Odd behaviors were present in 45.05 % of cases. Psychiatric features were present in 71.58 % of cases, absent in 2.95 %. Finally, the percentages of precipitating factors and of sleep disorder, apathy, sexual disorder, irritability/agressivity, were higher in males than in females.

CONCLUSIONS

The frequency of the opposites of hypersomnolence, compulsive eating and increased sexual drive appears to be quite significant. In addition, a systematic comparison of precipitating factors and symptoms in males and females has shown limited differences between sexes.

Kleine-Levin syndrome: A neuropsychiatric disorder

Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS) is a rare, relapsing-remitting disease that affects mostly adolescents. It is characterized by episodes lasting from 1 to several weeks, and comprises neurological (hypersomnia, confusion, slowness, amnesia) and neuropsychiatric symptoms (derealization and apathy). Some psychiatric symptoms (megaphagia, hypersexuality, anxiety, depressed mood, hallucinations, delusions) arise during episodes, albeit less frequently, while patients are normal between episodes. However, sudden severe (>18h/day of sleep) and recurrent hypersomnia helps to differentiate KLS from other psychiatric mimics. Derealization, the striking feeling of unreality or of being in a dream-like environment, is strongly associated with hypoperfusion of the associative temporoparietal junction cortex, whereas apathy is almost complete loss of autoactivation: teenagers stop using their cell phones and their only spontaneous initiative is to sleep. The cause of KLS is not known, but evidence suggests it could be a recurrent inflammatory encephalitis. Up to 5% of cases are familial, although no abnormal gene has yet been found. Hypersomnia episodes tend to become less frequent and to disappear with advancing age. However, 28% of patients have long-lasting episodes (>30 days), and around 15% have no signs of recovery after >20 years of living with the disorder. Patients' cognitive and psychiatric status should be regularly checked during asymptomatic periods, as 20-40% develop long-term mild cognitive impairment or mood disorders. Lithium therapy is beneficial for reducing episode frequency, and intravenous steroids can reduce the duration of long episodes.

Implications for Advanced Practice Nurses When Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated With Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS) Is Suspected: A Qualitative Study

INTRODUCTION

Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) is a relatively new but controversial diagnosis affecting hundreds of children and their families. It is generally thought to be an autoimmune disorder resulting from a streptococcal infection that causes significant and bizarre behavioral changes in children. Currently no definitive diagnostic or treatment modalities exist, which has led to misdiagnoses, ineffective treatments, and delayed care.

METHODS

A qualitative study was conducted that included 60 families with at least one child diagnosed with PANDAS. The purpose was to explore how families experience the disorder and what nurses can do to provide effective care.

RESULTS

Using paradigmatic analysis of transcribed interviews, three themes were identified: fear, frustration, and not being heard.

DISCUSSION

Results from this study suggest that more information is needed to better understand this challenging phenomenon from both medical and nursing perspectives. The study also reaffirms the importance of practicing the art of nursing, especially when the science is not yet established.

Kleine-Levin syndrome: a case report and review of literature

BACKGROUND

Kleine-Levin syndrome presents with recurrent hypersomnia along with a number of other neuropsychiatric features, of which hyperorality has not been described frequently.

METHOD

We report a male adolescent who presented with recurrent hypersomnia, hypersexuality, and hyperorality. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and overnight polysomnography followed by a multiple sleep latency tests were ordered. Excessive daytime sleepiness was assessed with the Epworth Sleepiness Scale.

RESULTS

Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain did not reveal any abnormality. Overnight video-synchronized polysomnography and multiple sleep latency tests ruled out narcolepsy. Epworth Sleepiness Scale score at baseline was 22. He was prescribed lithium carbonate 300 mg twice a day. The symptoms improved within a week after starting lithium carbonate therapy.

CONCLUSION

Kleine-Levin syndrome may present with hyperorality, and our patient responded well to lithium carbonate therapy.

Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS): An Evolving Concept

Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcus infections (PANDAS) originated from the observational work of Swedo and collaborators, who formalized their definition in 1998 in a set of operational criteria. The application of these criteria, which focuses on tics and obsessive-compulsive symptoms as core symptoms, has encountered difficulties, eventually leading to a high rate of misdiagnosis. In particular, the core feature represented by the association between newly diagnosed infections and neuropsychiatric symptom relapses in youths with this diagnosis could not be demonstrated by longitudinal studies. Exploratory studies aiming to identify clinical or cognitive features that could discriminate PANDAS from other pediatric obsessive-compulsive and tic disorders present methodological limitations, and therefore are not conclusive. Other behavioral features, in addition to obsessive-compulsive symptoms and tics, have been included in pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndromes (PANS) and childhood acute neuropsychiatric syndromes (CANS), two new concepts recently proposed in order to define a much broader clinical spectrum encompassing etiologically diverse entities. Given the uncertainties on the clinical definition of PANDAS, it is not surprising that evidence in support of a post-infectious, immune-mediated pathophysiology is also insufficient. Anti-dopamine receptor antibodies might be relevant to both Sydenham's chorea (SC)-the prototypical post-streptococcal neuropsychiatric disorder-and some rare forms of encephalitis targeting the basal ganglia specifically, but studies exploring their association with children fulfilling Swedo's criteria for PANDAS have been inconclusive. Moreover, we lack evidence in favor of the efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis or tonsillectomy in patients fulfilling Swedo's criteria for PANDAS, whereas a response to immune-mediated treatments like intravenous immunoglobulins has been documented by one study, but needs replication in larger trials. Overall, the available evidence does not convincingly support the concept that PANDAS are a well-defined, isolated clinical entity subdued by definite pathophysiological mechanisms; larger, prospective studies are necessary to reshape the nosography and disease mechanisms of post-streptococcal acute neuropsychiatric disorders other than SC. Research is also under way to shed further light on a possible relationship between streptococcal infections, other biological and psychosocial stressors, and the complex pathobiology of chronic tic disorders.