Sequential Presentation of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Narcolepsy in a 10-Year-Old Girl With Wolfram Syndrome 1.

ABSTRACT: Wolfram syndrome 1 (WS1) is a rare, autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by diabetes insipidus, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, optic atrophy, and deafness resulting from loss-of-function genetic variants in the WFS1 gene. Individuals with WS1 manifest a spectrum of neuropsychiatric disorders. Here, we report a pediatric case of WS1, which stemmed from a novel biallelic WFS1 loss-of-function genetic variant. The individual initially presented with obsessive-compulsive disorder, which was successfully managed by fluvoxamine. After 2 months, the child manifested excessive daytime sleepiness. Clinical evaluation and sleep recordings revealed a diagnosis of narcolepsy type 2. Excessive daytime sleepiness was improved with methylphenidate. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of narcolepsy in WS1, which possibly arose during a progressive neurodegenerative process. We emphasize the need for in-depth screening for neuropsychiatric phenotypes and sleep-related disorders in WS1, for clinical management, which significantly improves the quality of life.

Neonatal encephalopathic cerebral injury in South India assessed by perinatal magnetic resonance biomarkers and early childhood neurodevelopmental outcome.

UNLABELLED: Although brain injury after neonatal encephalopathy has been characterised well in high-income countries, little is known about such injury in low- and middle-income countries. Such injury accounts for an estimated 1 million neonatal deaths per year. We used magnetic resonance (MR) biomarkers to characterise perinatal brain injury, and examined early childhood outcomes in South India. METHODS: We recruited consecutive term or near term infants with evidence of perinatal asphyxia and a Thompson encephalopathy score ≥6 within 6 h of birth, over 6 months. We performed conventional MR imaging, diffusion tensor MR imaging and thalamic proton MR spectroscopy within 3 weeks of birth. We computed group-wise differences in white matter fractional anisotropy (FA) using tract based spatial statistics. We allocated Sarnat encephalopathy stage aged 3 days, and evaluated neurodevelopmental outcomes aged 3½ years using Bayley III. RESULTS: Of the 54 neonates recruited, Sarnat staging was mild in 30 (56%); moderate in 15 (28%) and severe in 6 (11%), with no encephalopathy in 3 (6%). Six infants died. Of the 48 survivors, 44 had images available for analysis. In these infants, imaging indicated perinatal rather than established antenatal origins to injury. Abnormalities were frequently observed in white matter (n = 40, 91%) and cortex (n = 31, 70%) while only 12 (27%) had abnormal basal ganglia/thalami. Reduced white matter FA was associated with Sarnat stage, deep grey nuclear injury, and MR spectroscopy N-acetylaspartate/choline, but not early Thompson scores. Outcome data were obtained in 44 infants (81%) with 38 (79%) survivors examined aged 3½ years; of these, 16 (42%) had adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: No infants had evidence for established brain lesions, suggesting potentially treatable perinatal origins. White matter injury was more common than deep brain nuclei injury. Our results support the need for rigorous evaluation of the efficacy of rescue hypothermic neuroprotection in low- and middle-income countries.