4-year-old diagnosed with ‘sleeping beauty syndrome’

Liya who had begun to get irritable without any reason also had bouts of unconsciousness for a few months and was hospitalised very often, but there was no clear diagnosis. 

She was then brought to Aster Medcity on February 16, after a sudden episode of unconsciousness, where she was found to be deeply comatose having very low heart rate and breathing. Continuous EEG monitoring ruled out non-convulsive epileptic state, says Dr Akbar Mohammad Chettali, Paediatric Neurologist, at the facility.

Dr Akbar said, “The child was found to be in deep sleep with poor responsiveness lasting almost for 5 days. This was confirmed by Polysomnography, a sleep study that records brain waves, the oxygen level in blood, heart rate and breathing, as well as eye and leg movements and is used to diagnose sleep disorders. The results of the sleep study suggested prolonged REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. After further investigations and discussions across specialities, the condition was diagnosed as the rare disease Kleine Levin syndrome or Sleeping Beauty disorder.” 

In the syndrome, the patient goes into deep sleep that can last from many hours to many days at a time. In Liya’s case, she used to fall asleep for five days at a time. However, the syndrome is said to affect male patients predominantly and they usually suffer from the syndrome during adolescence.

The frequency of sleeping bouts are known to decrease with increasing age and Liya’s parents were counselled about the nature of illness. They were also told about the importance of sleep hygiene. 

Dr Akbar added, “An interesting finding from the patient’s history was unexplained psychiatric illness with prolonged coma and unexplained death in the maternal grandmother at a young age, which could have been from the same Kleine Levin syndrome. The child psychiatry consultation also confirmed the diagnosis of Kleine Levin syndrome. Subsequently the child was started on medication that included neuroleptics, mood stabilisers and stimulants. She showed good response to treatment.”