PERIODIC LIMB MOVEMENTS DURING SLEEP ARE A FREQUENT FINDING IN PATIENTS WITH GILLES-DE-LA-TOURETTES-SYNDROME

Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome (GTS) and restless legs syndrome (RLS ) are two different neurological disorders with common features such a s involuntary movements. In both disorders a disturbance of the dopami nergic system has been considered among other possible mechanisms. Sin ce periodic leg movements (PLMS) during sleep are the predominant obje ctive finding in RLS, the aim of this study was to investigate sleep p arameters in GTS patients with particular emphasis on PLMS. Seven drug -free patients with GTS and seven age- and sex-matched healthy control s were studied polysomnographically, including superficial electromyog ram (EMG) leads on all four extremities. A high number of PLMS were fo und in five of seven, and periodic arm movements in four of seven GTS patients. Total sleep time was significantly lower (P < 0.05) in the G TS patients than in the controls, which confirms earlier findings. The presence of PLMS in GTS might point towards evidence for a pathophysi ological relationship between GTS and RLS, which, however, is not supp orted by the different responses to pharmacological treatments.