Oral and infusion levodopa-based strategies for managing motor complications in patients with Parkinson’s disease
Published: March 2010
Levodopa is the most effective treatment for Parkinson’s disease (PD), and PD patients will invariably require it during the course of their disease.
Unfortunately, after a few years of levodopa treatment the majority of patients will experience motor fluctuations and dyskinesia, and adequate management of such problems is essential in order to maintain satisfactory quality of life at the advanced stage of disease.
Various levodopa-based strategies are currently available that aim to control motor complications (wearing-off and dyskinesia) in PD, including dose fragmentation (smaller, more frequent dosing) or the use of orally administered, liquid levodopa formulations or melevodopa. Continuous delivery of dopaminergic medications, (introduced more recently) may represent a more effective approach to the treatment of motor complications in advanced PD. Indeed, continuous levodopa delivery by duodenal infusion may stabilize and significantly improve motor function as well as patients’ quality of life.
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