Melatonin treatment in obese patients with childhood craniopharyngioma and increased daytime sleepiness

Childhood Craniopharyngioma (CP) is a rare dysontogenetic tumor. Patients frequently suffer from sleep disturbances and obesity due to hypothalamic lesions. A self-assessment daytime sleepiness questionnaire (Epworth Sleepiness Scale [ESS]) was used to evaluate 79 patients with CP. Because hypothalamic lesions may explain daytime sleepiness, salivary melatonin and cortisol concentrations were examined in severely obese (BMI>4SD) and non severely obese (BMI