Sonographic abnormalities in idiopathic restless legs syndrome (RLS) and RLS in Parkinson's disease

Abstract

We aimed to investigate and compare sonographic abnormalities in the substantia nigra (SN) in patients with idiopathic restless legs syndrome (iRLS), those with RLS and Parkinson's disease (RLS-PD), those with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (iPD), and healthy controls. Study participants totaled 60 patients with RLS (41 iRLS, 19 RLS-PD), 25 iPD patients, and 35 age-matched healthy controls. Comparing all groups, the SN region's echogenicity area in the iRLS patients was significantly decreased compared with that in the PD-RLS, iPD, and control groups (p < 0.0001), and the PD-RLS group demonstrated a significantly increased echogenicity area compared with the control group (p < 0.05) and iRLS group (p < 0.0001). We found that the RLS-PD group's sonological results and clinical findings were different from those of the iRLS group.