Abstract
Parkinsonism is a degenerative disease. A weakening in the responsiveness to dopamine replacement therapy affects many patients: thus 45% fail to maintain their initial improvement after 2 years' and 50% after 3 years' medication. However, by reducing the peripheral and systemic side actions of dopamine through the selective introduction of sinemet, a decarboxylase inhibitor+L-dopa combination, a partial amelioration of as much as 35% at 2 years, or 20% at 3 years, can be achieved. There is evidence, also, that the initial choice of anti-parkinsonian therapy may be critical to the long term prognosis.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Critchley E. Levodopa and amantadine in the treatment of Parkinsonism. Practitioner. 1972 Apr;208(246):499–504. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Horrocks P. M., Vicary D. J., Rees J. E., Parkes J. D., Marsden C. D. Anticholinergic withdrawal and benzhexol treatment in Parkinson's disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1973 Dec;36(6):936–941. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.36.6.936. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hughes R. C., Polgar J. G., Weightman D., Walton J. N. Levodopa in Parkinsonism: the effects of withdrawal of anticholinergic drugs. Br Med J. 1971 May 29;2(5760):487–491. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5760.487. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hunter K. R., Shaw K. M., Laurence D. R., Stern G. M. Sustained levodopa therapy in parkinsonism. Lancet. 1973 Oct 27;2(7835):929–931. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(73)92595-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Marsden C. D., Parkes J. D., Rees J. E. A year's comparison of treatment of patients with parkinson's disease with levodopa combined with carbidopa versus treatment with levodopa alone. Lancet. 1973 Dec 29;2(7844):1459–1462. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(73)92729-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]