[HT-04] Dual nature of REM sleep behavior disorder : parasomnia vs harbinger of synucleinopathies

[HT-04-1] Natural history of idiopathic REM behavior disorder: parasomnia vs. harbinger of synucleinopathies

Carlos Schenck (Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center, Departments of Psychiatry, Hennepin County Medical Center, and University of Minnesota Medical School, USA)

REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) now attracts much interest from the neurology community, mostly because RBD was incorporated with the revised clinical diagnostic criteria of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) as one of the core clinical features in 2017. It has been also well established that RBD often precedes other symptoms and signs of synucleinopathies. Under this circumstance, neurologists should understand what RBD is and to make an early diagnosis of RBD. However, historically RBD was classified as one of the parasomnias with a long history of sleep research, and patients with isolated/idiopathic RBD seek medical help for violent or potentially harmful behaviors during sleep. In this symposium, the speakers from different subspecialties are going to focus this dual nature of RBD. We expect the audience to obtain in-depth knowledge about RBD.

Dr. Schenck was born in New York in 1951, received his B.A. degree from the Johns Hopkins University in 1972, and his M.D. degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1976. He completed a Psychiatry Residency at the University of Minnesota in 1980, where he is currently a Professor. Since 1982 he has also been a staff physician at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center in Minneapolis. In 1986 Dr. Schenck et al. published the first report on REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD). In 1996 Dr. Schenck et al. reported that RBD commonly heralds future parkinsonism. Dr. Schenck was the Founding President of the International RBD Study Group. Dr. Schenck has received the following awards: (1) American Academy of Sleep Medicine “William C. Dement Academic Achievement Award” in 2007 for discovering RBD. (2) Sleep Research Society “Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award” in 2010 for discovering RBD and its strong link with parkinsonism. (3) American Academy of Neurology "Sleep Science Award" in 2017 for discovering RBD and its strong link with parkinsonism. The first textbook on RBD: Schenck CH, Högl B, Videnovic A. (Eds.): Rapid-Eye-Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2018; ISBN 978-3-319-90151-0.
https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319901510