The prevalence of sleep disorder is about 30% of the population. Common sleep disorders are insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome, rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder and parasomnia. These sleep disorders lead various medical and mental complications. However, most sleep disorders are underdiagnosed and not treated appropriately. Sleep medicine is important for treating these sleep disorders and maintaining general healthy conditions. Specialized and comprehensive treatments for sleep disorder are important in sleep medicine.
Narcolepsy ; Parasomnias ; Prevalence ; REM Sleep Behavior Disorder ; Restless Legs Syndrome ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; Sleep Wake Disorders* ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders

Sleep-related painful erection (SRPE) is characterized by deep penile pain accompanied with erection occurring rapid eye movement (REM) movement period. Two (47-year-old and 40-year-old, respectively) male visited with the complaint of painful penile erection occurring during sleep. They had no problems with erection during daytime sexual activities except for mild premature ejaculation in one patient. Urologic inspections revealed no focal abnormalities. Polysomnography with simultaneous penile erection monitoring showed several episodes of awakening with painful erection which are time-locked to onset of REM sleep periods. According to the diagnostic criteria in international classification of sleep disorders, each patient was diagnosed to have chronic, severe SRPE. Despite of a low prevalence of SRPE, this condition should be considered in a patient who presents with nocturnal penile. A polysomnography accompanied with penile erection recording may help confirm diagnosis.
Adult ; Classification ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Male ; Penile Erection ; Polysomnography ; Premature Ejaculation ; Prevalence ; REM Sleep Parasomnias* ; Sexual Behavior ; Sleep Wake Disorders ; Sleep, REM

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a parasomnia characterized by sleep interruption or trauma due to abnormal behaviors that occur during REM sleep. The pathophysiology of RBD is known to be a dysfunction of brainstem circuit that causes the loss of skeletal muscle atonia during REM sleep. The diagnosis of RBD is needed to confirm REM sleep without atonia in the polysomnography. The management of RBD includes not only drug treatment, but also to prevent injury from RBD and to follow-up on neurodegenerative diseases that may occur later. RBD is thought to be a prodromal stage of neurodegenerative disease associated with α-synucleoinopathy, such as Parkinson's Disease or multiple system atrophy. This article reviews the symptoms, epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of RBD, the relevance of neurodegenerative diseases, and recent research trends.
Brain Stem ; Diagnosis ; Epidemiology ; Follow-Up Studies ; Multiple System Atrophy ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Parasomnias ; Parkinson Disease ; Polysomnography ; Prodromal Symptoms ; REM Sleep Behavior Disorder ; Sleep, REM

Catathrenia is a rare sleep disease characterized by monotonous groaning sounds that appear to be related with prolonged expiration, commonly experienced during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Catathrenia is also known as nocturnal groaning or sleep-related groaning and is currently categorized as a sleep-related breathing disorder. We present a rare case of a 19-year-old male with nocturnal groaning during non-REM sleep. We suggest that if catathrenia is suspected, polysomnography should be utilized to differentiate it from various sleep disorders such as snoring, central sleep apnea, sleep talking, parasomnia, and sleep-related movement disorders.
Humans ; Male ; Movement Disorders ; Parasomnias ; Polysomnography ; Respiration ; Sleep Apnea, Central ; Sleep Wake Disorders ; Sleep, REM ; Sleep-Wake Transition Disorders ; Snoring ; Young Adult

Parasomnia overlap disorder is characterized by coexisting rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder and non-REM parasomnia. We report herein an 8-year-old boy with REM sleep behavior disorder, sleep talking, and confusional arousal. Polysomnography revealed REM sleep without atonia, and arousal disorder. Neurological examination revealed bilateral ptosis, lateral gaze palsy, facial palsy, vertical nystagmus, and dysmetria. A pontine glioblastoma was found on brain magnetic resonance imaging, which could have been responsible for his neurologic deficit and sleep problem.
Arousal ; Brain ; Cerebellar Ataxia ; Child ; Facial Paralysis ; Glioblastoma ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neurologic Examination ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Nystagmus, Pathologic ; Paralysis ; Parasomnias ; Polysomnography ; REM Sleep Behavior Disorder ; Sleep Arousal Disorders ; Sleep, REM ; Sleep-Wake Transition Disorders

Sleepwalking is a rare parasomnia in the elderly. We report two cases of the patients who presented complex motor behaviors during sleep triggered by hypoglycemia. A 76-year-old male patient with diabetes mellitus presented to the sleep clinic for recurrent sleepwalking with amnesia. Night polysomnogram showed REM sleep without atonia with sleep talking and distal arm movements. While taking clonazepam, he had a few more episodes of sleepwalking. The last episode finally revealed severe hypoglycemia when he was found very far from his house. The second patient, a 67-year-old male showed four episodes of nocturnal confusion and sleepwalking lasting 20 minutes during sleep. His blood glucose and HbA1c were low. After decrease of the dose of oral hypoglycemic agent, no more recurrent sleepwalking occurred. Our cases showed hypoglycemia can induce sleepwalking in the older adults, rather than decreased mentality. Metabolic workup should perform for evaluation of sleepwalking, especially in the elderly.
Adult ; Aged ; Amnesia ; Arm ; Blood Glucose ; Clonazepam ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Humans ; Hypoglycemia* ; Male ; Parasomnias ; Polysomnography ; Sleep, REM ; Sleep-Wake Transition Disorders ; Somnambulism*