129: Implications of the 2024 AASM Guidelines for Restless Legs Syndrome

Welcome to the NeurologyLive® Mind Moments® podcast. Tune in to hear leaders in neurology sound off on topics that impact your clinical practice.

In this episode, Andy Berkowski, MD, PhD, founder of Relax Health, sat down to discuss the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's (AASM) recently published guideline update for the treatment of restless legs syndrome (RLS). Berkowski, who serves as a vice chair of the AASM's Practice Guidelines Task Force, provided clinical insight on the reasons behind the guidelines, pointing to the vast research advances and literature updates since its last iteration in 2012. Additionally, he touched on the greatest changes to the guidelines, noting things like the shift away from dopaminergic agents, the importance of iron in RLS pathophysiology, and the use of alpha-2-delta ligands and intravenous iron as first-line treatments. Berkowski also shared thoughts on how the guidelines impact care for patients of all ages, sexes, and RLS subtypes, as well as some of the more troubling parts of the guidelines to write and areas that were left unanswered. Furthermore, he gave his thoughts on how these guidelines will transform care going forward, including accelerating conversations on preventing RLS in many cases in the near future.

Looking for more sleep disorder discussion? Check out the NeurologyLive® Sleep disorders clinical focus page.

Episode Breakdown:

• 1:00 – Reasons behind new guidelines, progress in clinical research
• 2:50 – Overview of the greatest changes to the guidelines and what treating physicians should key in on
• 11:25 – Neurology News Minute
• 13:40 – How the guidelines address management based on age, sex, and RLS subtype
• 16:30 – Challenges when drafting the guidelines and the unanswered questions that remain
• 20:10 – A promising future for treating, managing, and preventing RLS

The stories featured in this week's Neurology News Minute, which will give you quick updates on the following developments in neurology, are further detailed here:

• Neurogene Reports Serious Adverse Event in Phase 1/2 Rett Study of Gene Therapy NGN-401

• Huntington Agent SAGE-718 to be Discontinued Following Disappointing Phase 2 DIMENSION Trial Results

• Alzheimer Agent Simufilam Fails to Meet Primary End Point in Phase 3 Study

Thanks for listening to the NeurologyLive® Mind Moments® podcast. To support the show, be sure to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. For more neurology news and expert-driven content, visit neurologylive.com.