Although described in 1685 by Thomas Willis and rediscovered by Karl Ekbom in 1944 it took many years for "Restless Legs Syndrome" to become widely known and studied as a neurological disorder. The number of RLS publications identified in PubMed was less than 200 prior to 1990 but has risen almost eightfold to 1,525 as of June 2007. This represents a promising beginning to learning about this complex neurological movement and sleep disorder. Although a relatively young field of study RLS research has arrived at some truly exciting developments. New pathophysiological concepts of RLS are being derived from recent genetic and neurobiological advances some of which are reviewed in this publication. In particular, recent work on identifying susceptibility genes and the recent discoveries in the relationship between iron and dopamine point to developing a real understanding of the neurobiology of RLS. These advances change the perception of RLS. We may identify new drug targets based on increasing knowledge about the underlying molecular genetic mechanisms of RLS and it can now be seen as one of the most common and more scientifically interesting neurological diseases, one that exemplifies critical genetic and environmental interactions.
Given the progress in the field it seemed timely to hold the "First International Scientific Symposium on RLS." Wolfgang Oertel and Claudia Trenkwalder, supported by Juliane Winkelmann as the local coordinator, organized this research symposium. At the same time that the science symposium was being planned, there was recognition of a need for an improved definition of augmen-