SUMMARY
The clinical and research interests of Stuart J. McCarter, M.D., include neurological and nonneurological sleep disorders, neurodegenerative disorders that cause cognitive impairment or dementia, and movement disorders.
He explores the complex relationship between sleep and neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. McCarter also has an active interest in the history of neurology.
His research includes rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD), mild cognitive impairment, dementia with Lewy bodies, Alzheimer's disease, corticobasal degeneration, progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple system atrophy, narcolepsy, periodic limb movement disorder and sleep-disordered breathing.
Focus areas
- RBD. Dr. McCarter studies the clinical, neuropsychological, neurophysiological, biofluid, neuroimaging and neuropathological characteristics of RBD.
- Lewy body disease. Dr. McCarter researches the clinical, neuropsychological, biofluid, neuroimaging and neuropathological characteristics of Lewy body disease. Lewy body disease has a broad spectrum of clinical presentations including cognitive, motor, behavioral and autonomic symptoms.
- Sleep manifestations of neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. McCarter studies changes that occur in the sleep of people with a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. He explores how these changes are related to the disease process and how they influence neurological disease symptoms and progression of symptoms.
Significance to patient care
Dr. McCarter's research identifies individuals at risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases and more accurately diagnoses them. He studies the mechanisms driving these diseases and develops more-effective treatments. His main goal is to help develop treatments that can delay or prevent the development of neurodegenerative diseases in individuals at risk.