The restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a sensorimotor disorder characterised by an intense urge to move the legs and sometimes also other parts of the body, and accompanied by a marked sense of discomfort or pain in the affected body parts. This urge has a circadian pattern - it is most pronounced in the evening or during the night. RLS symptoms are relieved by movement. The pathophysiology of RLS is related to dopamine transmission insufficiency, low iron storage in substantia nigra neurons, and spinal cord dysfunction. RLS is idiopathic or secondary (usually associated with iron deficiency, end-stage renal failure, pregnancy and spinal lesions). One half of the patients with idiopathic RLS have positive family history of RLS. RLS is curable, though the choice of therapy and proper dosage titration may take a long time, and though the therapy may sometimes have to be changed owing to augmentation. The most important pharmacologic treatment used in RLS includes L-DOPA, dopamine agonists, opiates, anticonvulsants and benzodiazepines. Therapy improves significantly the condition in long-term at least in 80% of RLS patients.

Department of neurology of the 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Czech Republic