Saccadic eye movements in Parkinson's disease

This review focuses on saccadic eye movement research in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Results from various studies related to Parkinson disease and saccades have been discussed in terms of various saccadic parameters like latency, amplitude, velocity and gain. Neural circuitry of saccadic eye movements and cognitive processes and it's relation with altered saccadic performance in Parkinson disease has been discussed here. This article also covers various research paradigms commonly used to study saccades. Effects of medication on saccadic parameters in PD patients have also been discussed along with the effects of deep brain stimulation of subthalamic nucleus on saccadic performance in PD patients. Literature review was done using online Pubmed search engine and National Medical Library.