[Kleine-Levin syndrome. Female cases and catamneses]

The Kleine-Levin syndrome (periodic hypersomnia and megaphagia in adolescence) was considered till 1962 to be a disorder limited to the male adolescents. Since 1924, however, a few female cases have been reported about. These, being approximately 20 patients, are registered by their essential symptoms together with 2 additional cases observed by the author. Moreover, prospective catamneses, covering periods of more than 12 years, were described for the first time. Probably, the Kleine-Levin-syndrome is the product of disturbed functions involving structures of hypothalamus and the reticular system. The syndrome seems to belong to the same groups of periodical diseases as migraine: in particular it exhibits similar relations to the genital cycle. Therapeutical success was attained by administration of amphetamines. In course of time, the episodes become spontaneously rarer and mostly cease.