Case report: A young man with non-rapid eye movement parasomnias in a KCNT1-related epilepsy family

Abstract

Differentiating between non-rapid eye movement (NREM) parasomnias and sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy (SHE) is challenging, as they exhibit similar episodes during sleep. A relatively high prevalence of NREM parasomnias has been detected in families with SHE. However, the common pathophysiologic mechanism is not completely clear. There have been no previous reports of KCNT1-related SHE combined with NREM parasomnias. In this report, we describe a 17 years-old male patient from a KCNT1 mutation family who exhibited complex abnormal behaviors during sleep, which have been confirmed as epileptic seizures combined with NREM parasomnias through video-electroencephalogram (vEEG) and video-polysomnography (vPSG). The present article provides a reasoning process to evaluate unusual nocturnal behaviors. Furthermore, our analysis suggests a new potential association between NREM parasomnias and KCNT1 mutations.