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Updated: May 25, 2026

Controlling Parkinson's Disease With Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation
Published on: July 16, 2014
Rivastigmine as alternative treatment for refractory REM behavior disorder in Parkinson's disease
Raffaella Di Giacopo1, Alfonso Fasano, Davide Quaranta
1Movement Disorders Research Center, Department of Neuroscience, Catholic University, Rome, Italy. rdigiacopo@yahoo.it
Background:
We report on a double-blind, crossover pilot trial for the treatment of rapid eye movement behavior disorder (RBD) in 12 patients with Parkinson's disease in whom conventional therapy failed.
Methods:
We employed a patch of the cholinesterase inhibitor rivastigmine at a dose of 4.6 mg/24 hours for 3 weeks compared with placebo to reduce the frequency of RBD episodes. The number of RBD episodes was monitored by diaries of bed partners.
Results:
Rivastigmine was well tolerated in most patients, with minor side effects, mainly related to peripheral cholinergic action, and significantly reduced the mean frequency of RBD episodes during the observation time.
Conclusions:
The results of this pilot trial need to be confirmed by further studies on a larger number of patients.
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