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Rhythmic tongue movements during sleep: a peculiar parasomnia in Costello syndrome

Giacomo Della Marca1, Marco Rubino, Catello Vollono

  • 1Unit of Sleep Medicine, Department of Neuroscience, Catholic University, Rome, Italy. dellamarca@rm.unicatt.it

Movement Disorders : Official Journal of the Movement Disorder Society
|October 27, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Infants with Costello syndrome may experience unique NREM sleep parasomnias, specifically rhythmic tongue movements resembling sucking or licking. These movements suggest potential brainstem involvement and impaired muscle control during sleep.

Area of Science:

  • Neurology
  • Sleep Medicine
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Costello syndrome is a rare genetic disorder associated with various developmental abnormalities.
  • Sleep disturbances are common in individuals with genetic syndromes, but specific parasomnias are not well-characterized in Costello syndrome.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To describe a peculiar parasomnia characterized by periodic rhythmic tongue movements observed in infants with Costello syndrome.
  • To investigate the sleep characteristics of patients with Costello syndrome using polysomnography.

Main Methods:

  • Ten patients diagnosed with Costello syndrome (4 male; age range 9 months to 29 years) underwent full-night laboratory-based video polysomnography.
  • Detailed analysis of sleep patterns, focusing on abnormal movements during different sleep stages.

Main Results:

  • Four of the youngest patients (2 male, 2 female; age range 9-31 months) exhibited repeated, stereotyped tongue movements during sleep.
  • These movements were described as sucking-like or licking-like and predominantly occurred during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.
  • The observed tongue movements presented features consistent with an NREM sleep parasomnia.

Conclusions:

  • Rhythmic tongue movements during sleep in Costello syndrome appear to be a distinct NREM parasomnia.
  • These movements likely originate from brainstem structures.
  • Impaired control of oropharyngeal and tongue muscles may facilitate these sleep-related movements in Costello syndrome patients.

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