SynthesisSleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung2026
Neuromodulation for Restless Legs Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Mechanistic Considerations for Spinal Cord Stimulation.
Synthesis in Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- The evolving treatment landscape of restless legs syndrome.Therapeutic advances in neurological disorders · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundRestless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common sleep disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to move the legs. Symptoms predominate in the evening and cause significant circadian rhythm interruptions that impact sleep and quality of life, leading to decreased work productivity, anxiety, and depression. Some patients improve with oral medications, but many experience treatment-refractory symptoms, whether from lack of efficacy or intolerable cognitive or behavioral side effects. Emerging evidence suggests that diverse neuromodulation modalities could provide a novel circuit-based therapy option for patients with treatment-refractory RLS. Given its prevalence, most of these reports arise as serendipitous observations of improved RLS symptoms when it is comorbid with an approved indication for neuromodulation, such as chronic neuropathic pain or a movement disorder. More recent work has begun investigating neuromodulation, including spinal cord stimulation, for primary idiopathic RLS.
methodsHere we performed a PRISMA systematic review identifying 120 articles utilizing spinal cord stimulation, deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, vagal nerve stimulation, and other modalities. Among these, we summarize findings from 54 studies that met our specific inclusion criteria and suggest potential mechanisms, such as spinal cord hyperexcitability, for neuromodulation of RLS symptoms.
resultsInterestingly, the amount and duration of RLS improvement seems to correlate with the invasiveness of the neuromodulation modality. Spinal cord stimulation has demonstrated more consistent, promising results with greater magnitude of IRLS Score improvement compared to the other modalities.
conclusionProspective, multi-institutional trials are needed to evaluate whether various neuromodulation strategies can impact debilitating symptoms from treatment-refractory RLS, and rigorous analysis should be conducted to identify the most effective modalities.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.