Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder in Paraneoplastic Cerebellar Degeneration: Improvement with Immunotherapy
Thiago Cardoso Vale1, Lucila Bizari Fernandes do Prado2, Gilmar Fernandes do Prado2
1Movement Disorders Unit, Neurology Service, University Hospital. Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Study Objectives:
To report two female patients with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) related to breast cancer that presented with rapid eye movement-sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and improved sleep symptoms with immunotherapy.
Methods:
The two patients were evaluated through clinical scale and polysomnography before and after therapy with intravenous immunoglobulin.
Results:
RBD was successfully treated with immunotherapy in both patients. Score on the RBD screening questionnaire dropped from 10 to 1 or 0, allied with the normalization of polysomnographic findings.
Conclusions:
A marked improvement in RBD after immunotherapy in PCD raises the hypothesis that secondary RBD may be an immune-mediated sleep disorder.
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