Treatment of Kleine-Levin syndrome with acetazolamide

Abstract

Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS) is a rare and disabling disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of hypersomnia as well as cognitive and behavioral abnormalities. Sadly, the treatment options are very limited and often ineffective. To our knowledge, there have been no reports in the literature for the use of acetazolamide as a treatment for this disorder. We report the case of a 26-year-old female patient with KLS in whom acetazolamide was used to treat recurrent hypersomnia and cognitive abnormalities. The patient had a dramatic improvement on acetazolamide in both the frequency and severity of her symptoms. The symptoms recurred when acetazolamide was stopped on two occasions and improved with resumption of the drug, leading us to conclude that its therapeutic effect was significant.