Steering Committee
Profiles
Alon Avidan, MD, MPH,
(Chair)
Dr. Avidan is Professor of Neu-
rology at UCLA where he serves
as Director of the UCLA Sleep
Disorders Center and Director of
the UCLA Neurology Clinic. He
received his Bachelor of Science
degree in Biology from UCLA
and attended Medical School at
the George Washington Universi-
ty School of Medicine and Health
Sciences where he also obtained a
Master of Public Health. He com-
pleted his Neurology Residency
at the Georgetown University
Medical Center, where he served
as Chief Resident. After residen-
cy, he completed a Fellowship in
Clinical Neurophysiology and
Sleep Disorders at the Cleveland
Clinic Foundation.
Aleksandar Videnovic, MD,
MSc, (Vice Chair)
Dr. Videnovic is a Movement
Disorders and Sleep Medicine
neurologist at Massachusetts
General Hospital and Assistant
Professor of Neurology at
Harvard Medical School. He
obtained his medical degree at
the University of Belgrade School
of Medicine. Dr. Videnovic
completed residency training
2013 - 2014
chair
Alon Avidan, MD, MPH
vice-chair
Aleksandar Videnovic, MD, MSc
members
Michel Cramer Bornemann, MD
Ramadevi Gourineni, MD
Erik K. St. Louis, MD
AASM Membership Sections Newsletter
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Issue # 4
17
Parasomnias
Parasomnias Article Reviews
Delayed emergence of a parkinsonian disorder or dementia
in 81% of older men initially diagnosed with idiopathic rapid
eye movement sleep behavior disorder: a 16-year update on a
previously reported series.
Schenck CH, Boeve BF, Mahowald MW. Sleep Med. 2013
Aug;14(8):744-8.
In a landmark report published in Neurology in 1996, Schenck et
al. reported 38% conversion from idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep
behavior disorder (iRBD) to a parkinsonian syndrome in a cohort of 29
men affected by iRBD. In a recent report in Sleep Medicine, the same
authors presented a 16-year follow up from 26 of the 29 patients from
the original cohort; three patients were lost to follow up. The follow up
revealed 81% conversion from iRBD to a neurodegenerative disorder.
The majority of patients (n=13) developed Parkinson’s disease. Others
developed dementia with Lewy bodies, multiple system atrophy and
Alzheimer’s disease with coexistent Lewy body pathology. The interval
range from the onset of iRBD to the conversion to a neurodegenerative
disorder was 5-29 years. These important observations further validate
a strong association between iRBD and developing synucleinopathy and
emphasize the potential importance of testing neuroprotective therapies
for parkinsonian syndromes, once available, in the RBD population.
Sleep clinicians would find these findings useful when caring for
people with RBD since they can screen for motor and cognitive decline
in this patient population, and be prepared to counsel their RBD patients
in regard to the increasingly recognized link between RBD and parkin-
sonism.
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