From brain to spinal cord: neuromodulation by direct current stimulation and its promising effects as a treatment option for restless legs syndrome.

Neuromodulation is a fast-growing field of mostly non-invasive therapies, which includes spinal cord stimulation (SCS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), vagal nerve stimulation (VNS), peripheral nerve stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS). This narrative review offers an overview of the therapy options, especially of tDCS and tsDCS for chronic pain and spinal cord injury. Finally, we discuss the potential of tsDCS in Restless Legs Syndrome as a promising non-invasive, alternative therapy to medication therapy.

Case report: An OSAS patient with comorbid RLS/PLMS - a closer look at the causes of PAP intolerance.

Since 2017, hypoglossal nerve stimulation has been included in the S3-guidelines on restorative sleep/sleep disorders as an alternative treatment for patients with obstructive sleep related breathing disorders who cannot tolerate conventional PAP-therapy. Under certain conditions, some of these patients have the option to have a tongue pacemaker implanted during a surgical procedure to regain a restful night's sleep. However, in some cases it does not solve the problem. In this case report, we present a patient who continued to have restless sleep despite implantation of a hypoglossus nerve stimulator. We provide a closer look at the underlying causes of PAP intolerance and emphasize the importance of a combined pneumological and neurological approach to sleep medicine in sleep-specific therapy evaluation.