High-Resolution Nerve Ultrasound and Electrophysiological Findings in Restless Legs Syndrome
Abstract
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a multifactorial network disorder of a sensorimotor system extending from dopaminergic and glutamatergic cerebral structures to the spinal neurons and peripheral nerves. The role of peripheral nerve damage in the causality and severity progression for RLS patients remains unclear. We performed a clinical and epidemiological study on a cohort of 34 RLS patients focusing on RLS risk factors and disease severity. We investigated the peripheral nerves with nerve conduction studies and with high-resolution nerve ultrasound (HRUS). In 18 of the 34 patients (mean age 67.4 ± 15 years old), a sensorimotor axonal neuropathy was diagnosed. These patients presented with late-onset RLS were treated with membrane stabilizing agents, whereas no neuropathy predisposing comorbidity could be identified for the majority of them. We could show an inverse correlation between the amplitudes of the tibial nerve for the patients with polyneuropathy and the RLS severity index. Neuropathy patients were characterized by an increase of the cross-sectional area (CSA) of the tibial nerve in the popliteal fossa and by increased intranerve and internerve variability values showing an asymmetry of CSA distribution. This pattern ...Continue Reading
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