[Doctor, I have pain and pins and needles in my legs at night].

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a frequent chronic condition. It causes discomfort in the lower limbs with an urge to move the legs and sometimes paresthesias. It's frequently associated with sleep and mood disorders causing a significant impact on quality of life.

[Positional obstructive sleep apnea syndrome].

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) tends to worsen on the supine posture due to the effect of gravity on tongue position. In some cases, OSA is present exclusively on the supine posture (exclusive postural OSA). These patients may benefit from positional therapy (PT), which aim is to prevent sleep in the supine posture using different types of devices.

[HypnoLaus sleep cohort study].

Normal sleep patterns and prevalence of sleep disorders in the general population are largely unknown. The aim of HypnoLaus cohort study is to record sleep and analyze sleep characteristics in a large population-based sample, which had undergone comprehensive genetic, somatic, and psychiatric investigations. Full polysomnography has already been performed in more than 1100 middle aged men and women randomly selected from Lausanne general population (goal 2000-3000 sleep recordings).

[Sleep disorders in chronic renal failure].

Sleep disorders are common in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF), especially in those receiving hemodialysis. Sleep-related complaints in this patient population may include insomnia, daytime sleepiness or fatigue and depression. In addition to causing impairment of daytime function and quality of life, sleep apnea may also increase the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, especially in dialysis patients.

[Narcolepsy with cataplexy associated with H1N1 vaccination].

Introduction: It has been suggested that the H1N1 vaccine may be a trigger for the onset of narcolepsy-cataplexy, a rare disease whose autoimmune origin is suspected.

Observations: We report two patients (a 9-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man) with severe narcolepsy-cataplexy, in whom the illness appeared within 3-4 weeks after H1N1 vaccination. In both cases, symptoms developed unusually abruptly and they presented with severe daytime sleepiness and multiple daily cataplexy attacks.

Pulse wave amplitude drops during sleep are reliable surrogate markers of changes in cortical activity.

Background: During sleep, sudden drops in pulse wave amplitude (PWA) measured by pulse oximetry are commonly associated with simultaneous arousals and are thought to result from autonomic vasoconstriction. In the present study, we determine whether PWA drops were associated with changes in cortical activity as determined by EEG spectral analysis.

Methods: A 20% decrease in PWA was chosen as a minimum for a drop.

[Opioids and sleep disordered breathing].

Medical use of chronic opioids has recently increased in Switzerland. Even though their effect on daytime vigilance tends to disappear after some time, 70% of chronic opioid users will suffer from sleep disordered breathing. Most of them will show an ataxic breathing during sleep with mostly central apnea alternating with short breathing periods, but long hypopnea may also occur.

[Obstructive sleep apnea: a risk for general anesthesia?].

There are many case reports of serious complications and death among obstructive sleep apnea patients (OSA) during general anesthesia or postoperative analgesia. Sedatives and anesthetic agents, pharyngeal anatomy of these patients, opiates given for analgesia, and post operative REM sleep rebound represent potential hazards for general anesthesia in OSA patients. Ideally these patients should be treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) during premedication, directly after extubation and during postoperative analgesia.