Poor effect of guideline based treatment of restless legs syndrome in clinical practice.

Background: Numerous randomised controlled trials have proved the efficacy of dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic drugs in the treatment of restless legs syndrome (RLS). In contrast, epidemiological data demonstrate generally insufficient RLS treatment in clinical practice.

Objective: To prospectively assess the success of RLS treatment in the clinical setting and to evaluate potential demographic factors and comorbidities that may influence the response to therapy.

Sonographic substantia nigra hypoechogenicity in polyneuropathy and restless legs syndrome.

Substantia nigra (SN) hypoechogenicity assessed by transcranial B-mode sonography (TCS) is typical for idiopathic restless legs syndrome (RLS). Here, we investigated whether SN hypoechogenicity may differentiate between polyneuropathy (PNP) patients with and without RLS. Seventy-five patients with PNP, 65 healthy controls, and 75 patients with idiopathic RLS were investigated.

Sonographic abnormalities of brainstem structures in restless legs syndrome.

Background And Purpose: Using transcranial B-mode sonography (TCS), the first morphological marker for restless legs syndrome (RLS), hypoechogenicity of the substantia nigra (SN) has been found. The aim of this study was to validate SN hypoechogenicity as a morphological marker for RLS in a large patient cohort and to investigate further RLS-associated brain abnormalities using TCS.

Methods: One hundred forty-three RLS patients (37 with symptomatic RLS) and 45 controls, matched for age and gender, underwent TCS by an experienced and independent rater who was blinded to clinical data.