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Imaging the Aetiology of Sleep Disorders in Dementia and Parkinson’s Disease

  • Neuroimaging (DJ Brooks, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Sleep disorders are commonly observed in patients with neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease and often represent an early manifestation of the underlying degenerative process. The pathophysiology of sleep dysfunction in these conditions is complex and incompletely understood. However, in recent years, functional imaging in vivo with SPECT and PET has significantly improved our understanding of the possible molecular mechanisms. These include dysfunction of both dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic pathways involved in sleep/wakefulness control. This paper summarizes the main findings of the imaging studies performed to elucidate the aetiology of sleep disorders in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

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Nicola Pavese declares no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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  1. Division of Brain Sciences—Neurology Imaging Unit (NIU), Imperial College London, 1st Floor, B Block Hammersmith Campus DuCane Road, London, W12 0NN, UK

    Nicola Pavese

  2. Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, DK, Denmark

    Nicola Pavese

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Correspondence to Nicola Pavese.

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Pavese, N. Imaging the Aetiology of Sleep Disorders in Dementia and Parkinson’s Disease. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 14, 501 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-014-0501-5

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