World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM) Report

Neurologist Steve Poceta, MD reports on his blog from the World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM) Second International Congress on Sleep Medicine in Bangkok, Thailand, where Sleep Community physicians and researchers have gathered to compare stategies for evaluating and treating sleep disorders.

This is an excerpt from the report where Dr. Poceta said of a restless legs syndrome (RLS) paper presented there,

"Because of slow internet, I'll keep this posting short...An interesting paper from Europe comparted cabergoline, a long acting dopamine agonist, to L-DOPA in the treatment of restless legs syndrome. Both were equal in reducing the symptoms RLS, but the patients taking 2 to 3 mg of cabergoline had better long term results. They were less likely to drop out and less likely to develop augmentation and rebound.

In the US, cabergoline is licensed only to treat pituatary disorders, but it is related to Requip and Mirapex in its chemical action. It could be an option for a small number of RLS sufferrers."


I'll personally be looking forward to the materials that come out of this conference because it has traditionally showcased some very promising findings for sleep patients.


Here are members of the WASM Board of Directors:

President: Markku Partinen, Helsinki, Finland

President-Elect: Sudhansu Chokroverty, Edison, New Jersey, US

Secretary: Richard Allen, Baltimore, Maryland, US

Treasurer: Claudia Trenkwalder, Kassel, Germany

Assistant Secretary: Patrick Levy, Grenoble, France

Assistant Treasurer: Karin Stiasny-Kolster, Marburg, Germany

Members at Large

At-Large Africa: Allison Bentley, South Africa

At-Large Asia: Nana Tachibana, Kyoto, Japan; and Naiphinich Kotchabhakdi, Salaya, Thailand

At-Large Australia/Oceania: John Swieca, Australia

At-Large Europe: Claudio Bassetti, Zurich, Switzerland; and Luigi Ferini-Strambi, Milan, Italy

At-Large South America: Sergio Tufik, Sao Paolo, Brasil

At-Large USA: Max Hirshkowitz, Houston, Texas; and Wayne Hening, New York City, New York



Be well, Sleep well,
Theresa