Medscape: The antiplatelet medication dipyridamole reduces motor and sensory symptoms of restless legs syndrome (RLS) and improves sleep duration for treatment-naive patients, results of a small, randomized, placebo-controlled trial show.
After 2 weeks of treatment, scores on the International Restless Legs Rating Scale (IRLS) decreased by 13 points for patients who received dipyridamole, compared with 5 points among those who received placebo.
“Dipyridamole, a drug that acts exclusively upon adenosinergic pathways, with no known direct dopaminergic or glutamatergic effects, is therapeutically effective and implicates adenosinergic pathways in the pathophysiology of the disorder,” Diego García-Borreguero, MD, PhD, director of the Sleep Research Institute, Madrid, Spain, told Medscape Medical News.
