Nozawa T
Department of Neurology, Showa University School of Medicine.
Nihon Rinsho. 1998 Feb;56(2):389-95.
The periodic limb movements (PLM) are defined as stereotyped, periodic movements of the legs and/or upper limbs during sleep. The patient exhibits dorsifilexion of the ankle and extension of the big toe with occasional flexion of the knee and hip. PLM originally was described as "nocturnal myoclonus" by Symonds in 1953. Recently, the term "nocturnal myoclonus" has been replaced with PLM, because the movements are slower than true myoclonic movement. The appearance of PLM was reported in sleep apnea syndrome, delayed sleep phase syndrome, narcolepsy, spinal cord tumor, diabetes mellitus and uremia. The prevalence of PLM statistically increase with age. Patients with PLM show excessive daytime sleepiness or insomnia. Several reports show the difficulty recognizing periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD) without polysomnography (PSG). The diagnosis of PLMD is established only by PSG.
周期性肢体运动（PLM）被定义为睡眠期间腿部和/或上肢的刻板、周期性运动。患者表现为踝关节背屈和大脚趾伸展，偶尔伴有膝关节和髋关节屈曲。PLM最初在1953年被西蒙兹描述为“夜间肌阵挛”。最近，“夜间肌阵挛”一词已被PLM取代，因为这些运动比真正的肌阵挛运动要慢。睡眠呼吸暂停综合征、睡眠时相延迟综合征、发作性睡病、脊髓肿瘤、糖尿病和尿毒症中均有PLM出现的报道。PLM的患病率随年龄增长而统计学上升。PLM患者表现出白天过度嗜睡或失眠。几份报告显示，没有多导睡眠图（PSG）很难识别周期性肢体运动障碍（PLMD）。PLMD仅通过PSG来确诊。
