Narcolepsie chez l'enfant : caractéristiques cliniques et approches thérapeutiques

摘要

Narcolepsy is a rare neurological disease and it starts, in 50% of cases, before adulthood. It is characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, sleep paralysis and hypnologic hallucinations, events that affect the psychological, social and school children. This pathophysiology is described by the loss of neurons in the posterior hypothalamus hypocretin, probably due to an autoimmune attack, and by histamine systems. Instead of narcolepsy adult, pediatric studies aren’t numerous and can be a light to the understanding of this pathogenesis and her evolution. The main objective of the thesis is to characterize the disease and her treatment in pediatric population. This rechearch used clinical databases, anthropometric, electrophysiological and pharmacological in children’s, adolescents and adults, with narcolepsy followed within five Centers National Reference Narcolepsy and hypersomnia. The results have shown that narcolepsy in children may have different phenotypes (rapid weight gain, obesity, ADHD, depression, allergies and others) and It can be most severe than adult population, principality obesity and ADHD. The thesis describes our experience of treatment and the utilization of pitolisant in narcolepsy (effective for treating sleepiness with improvements on cataplexy, has been presented a good risk/benefit ratio). In conclusion, there is a distinctive aspect of adult and pediatric narcolepsy (obesity and symptoms of more severe ADHD, in the way that obesity affects about 60% of narcoleptic children, most youth early in the disease, and has a negative impact on sleep quality and school absenteeism