Subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation restores normal rapid eye movement sleep in Parkinson's disease

Background: In Parkinson's disease, sleep disturbance is a common occurrence. Methods: We evaluated sleep in 10 patients with Parkinson's disease (age, 57.5 +/- 9.8 years; disease duration, 12.3 +/- 2.7 years) before and after subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation using the Parkinson's disease sleep scale and polysomnography. Results: Their total sleep scale scores and daytime sleepiness subscale scores significantly improved after subthalamic nucleus-deep brain stimulation. The novel findings from this study significantly increased normal rapid eye movement sleep, and decreased abnormal rapid eye movement sleep without atonia after deep brain stimulation in patients with Parkinson's disease. The improved total sleep scale score correlated with decreased wakefulness after sleep onset. Moreover, improved daytime sleepiness correlated with increased normal rapid eye movement sleep time. Sleep improvement did not significantly correlate with resolution of motor complication or reduced dopaminergic dosages. Conclusions: Subthalamic nucleus-deep brain stimulation may have beneficial effects on sleep disturbance in advanced Parkinson's disease by restoring sleep architecture and normal rapid eye movement sleep. (C) 2011 Movement Disorder Society