1. Effect of duodenal levodopa infusion on blood pressure and sweating
- Author
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Eero Pekkonen, Jukka Lyytinen, and V. Pursiainen
- Subjects
Male ,Levodopa ,Parkinson's disease ,Duodenum ,Blood Pressure ,Sweating ,Severity of Illness Index ,Statistics, Nonparametric ,Orthostatic vital signs ,Quality of life ,Rating scale ,Oral administration ,medicine ,Humans ,Prospective Studies ,Aged ,Retrospective Studies ,Drug Administration Routes ,Parkinson Disease ,General Medicine ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Autonomic nervous system ,Treatment Outcome ,Blood pressure ,Neurology ,Anesthesia ,Neurology (clinical) ,Psychology ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Background Non-motor symptoms are a major contributor to quality of life in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease (PD). Duodenal levodopa infusion (DLI) has been shown to alleviate motor fluctuations, but data on its possible effect on non-motor symptoms are scarce. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of DLI on blood pressure (BP), sweating, and non-motor symptoms. Methods We evaluated prospectively and open-label nine male patients with advanced PD (age 68.5 ± 6.2 years) treated with DLI because of daily motor fluctuations. Patients were evaluated using orthostatic test, sweating and skin temperature measurements, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Non-motor Symptom Scale (NMSS), and PDQ-39 before and after 2 months of treatment. Results Orthostatic BP drop worsened after 1 week of DLI compared with oral medication (24.1 vs 11.9 mmHg, P = 0.011) and remained significant after 2 months of treatment. UPDRS motor scores improved significantly in 2 months compared with baseline (25 vs 19, P
- Published
- 2012
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