Treatment for restless legs syndrome secondary to chronic liver disease: A case report

Abstract

We report a patient with restless legs syndrome (RLS) and chronic liver disease (CLD), whose RLS symptoms fluctuated in correlation with serum ammonia level. RLS in this patient seemed to be secondary to CLD because palliative medications for the liver dysfunction showed an additional effect on RLS symptoms that were partially controlled by levodopa. CLD should be born in mind as one of the factors to cause RLS symptoms; the therapeutic mechanism of RLS enhanced by palliative medications for CLD is discussed. © 2012 The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine.