Park KM, Kim KT, Kang KW, Park JA, Seo JG, Kim J, Chang H, Kim EY, Cho YW. Alterations of Functional Connectivity in Patients With Restless Legs Syndrome.
J Clin Neurol 2022;
18:290-297. [PMID:
35589318 PMCID:
PMC9163943 DOI:
10.3988/jcn.2022.18.3.290]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2022] [Revised: 01/28/2022] [Accepted: 02/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common neurological illness marked by a strong desire to move one’s legs, usually in association with uncomfortable sensations. Recent studies have investigated brain networks and connectivity in RLS. The advent of network analysis has greatly improved our understanding of the brain and various neurological disorders. A few studies have investigated alterations in functional connectivity in patients with RLS. This article reviews functional connectivity studies of patients with RLS, which have identified significant alterations relative to healthy controls in several brain networks including thalamic, salience, default-mode, and small-world networks. In addition, network changes related to RLS treatment have been found, including to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcutaneous spinal cord direct-current stimulation, and dopaminergic drugs. These findings suggest that the underlying pathogenesis of RLS includes alterations in the functional connectivity in the brain and that RLS is a network disorder.
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