[Brazilian guidelines for the diagnosis of narcolepsy].

Abstract

This manuscript contains the conclusion of the consensus meeting on the diagnosis of narcolepsy based on the review of Medline publications between 1980-2010. Narcolepsy is a chronic disorder with age at onset between the first and second decade of life. Essential narcolepsy symptoms are cataplexy and excessive sleepiness. Cataplexy is defined as sudden, recurrent and reversible attacks of muscle weakness triggered by emotions. Accessory narcolepsy symptoms are hypnagogic hallucinations, sleep paralysis and nocturnal fragmented sleep. The clinical diagnosis according to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders is the presence of excessive sleepiness and cataplexy. A full in-lab polysomnography followed by a multiple sleep latency test is recommended for the confirmation of the diagnosis and co-morbidities. The presence of two sleep-onset REM period naps in the multiple sleep latency test is diagnostic for cataplexy-free narcolepsy. A positive HLA-DQB1*0602 with lower than 110pg/mL level of hypocretin-1 in the cerebrospinal fluid is required for the final diagnosis of cataplexy- and sleep-onset REM period -free narcolepsy.

• Authors: Flávio Alóe, Rosana Cardoso Alves, John F Araújo, Alexandre Azevedo, Andrea Bacelar, Márcio Bezerra, Lia Rita Azeredo Bittencourt, Guilherme Bustamante, Tânia Aparecida Marchiori de Oliveira Cardoso, Alan L Eckeli, Regina Maria França Fernandes, Leonardo Goulart, Márcia Pradella-Hallinan, Rosa Hasan, Heidi Haueisen Sander, Luciano Ribeiro Pinto Jr, Maria Cecília Lopes, Gisele Richter Minhoto, Walter Moraes, Gustavo Antônio Moreira, Daniela Pachito, Mário Pedrazolli, Dalva Poyares, Lucila Prado, Geraldo Rizzo, R Nonato Rodrigues, Israel Roitman, Ademir Baptista Silva, Stella Márcia Azevedo Tavares
• Journal: Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999) (Braz J Psychiatry) Vol. 32 Issue 3 Pg. 294-304 (09 2010) ISSN: 1516-4446 [Print] Brazil
• Vernacular Title: Diretrizes brasileiras para o diagnóstico da narcolepsia.
• PMID: 20585744 (Publication Type: Consensus Development Conference, English Abstract, Journal Article, Practice Guideline)

Topics

• Brazil
• Diagnosis, Differential
• Humans
• Narcolepsy (diagnosis, etiology, genetics)