Huzursuz bacak sendromlu hastalarda transkranial ultrasonografinin tanıdaki yeri; İlk sonuçlarımız

Diagnostic value of transcranial sonography in patients with restless legs syndrome; Preliminary results

Özet

Huzursuz bacak sendromu (HBS), bacaklarda anormal duyular olarak tanımlanan kronik bir rahatsızlıktır. Hastalığın, fizyopatolojik mekanizması henüz yeterince açıklanamamıştır. Bazı araştırmacılar, transkranial ultrasonografide (TKUS) beyin sapında bir takım yapı sal değişiklikler tanımlamıştır. Biz bu çalışmada, TKUS’de özellikle substantia nigra (SN)’da daha önce de tanımlanmış olan hipoekojenitenin, HBS’lu hastalarda tanı kriteri olarak kullanılıp kullanılamayacağı nı araştırmak istedik. Bu amaçla 18 HBS’lu hasta ve 18 sağlıklı kontrol grubuna TKUS incelemesi yaptık. ‹ncelemede beyin sapı nda SN lokalizasyonuna uyumlu ekojenik bölge alanı nı manuel olarak ölçtük. Bilateral ekojenik bölgenin toplam alanı

Abstract

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a chronic disorder characterized by abnormal sensations in the legs. Pathophysiological mechanism of the syndrome has not been explained clearly, yet. Some researchers reported the morphological changes in brainstem of RLS patients, by transcranial ultrasonography (TCS). In this study we aimed to investigate whether TCS findings (specially decreased SN echogenicity) can be used as a diagnostic criteria for RLS. We studied, 18 RLS patients and 18 healty controls with TCS. We measured the echogenic areas reflected the SN location at brainstem planimetrically, and used the results for further analyses. If, sum of the echogenic areas on both sides of the brainstem was ≤0.20 cm2, it was defined as SN hypoechogenicity. We found that, SN hypoechogenicity was more prevalent in RLS patients than in healty controls (77 % and 16 %, respectively). Results showed good sensitivity (77,7%), specificity (83,3%) and diagnostic accuracy (80,5%). There were no correlation between SN hypoechogenicity and the duration of disease or the age of patients. Further studies are needed with large patient groups but according to our preliminary results it seems that TCS can be used as an additional diagnostic criteria for RLS patients.