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. 2025 Aug;15(5):970-981.
doi: 10.1177/1877718X251344896. Epub 2025 Jun 16.

Twenty-five-year experience with apomorphine pump in Parkinson's disease: A real-life long-term retrospective tolerance study

Sina R Potel  1   2 , Maria Chondrogiorgi  2   3 , Andrea Gozzi  2   4 , Sandrine Correia  2 , Anna Castrioto  2 , Sara Meoni  2 , Pierre Pelissier  2 , Emmanuelle Schmitt  2 , Valérie Fraix  2 , Elena Moro  2
Affiliations
Free article

Twenty-five-year experience with apomorphine pump in Parkinson's disease: A real-life long-term retrospective tolerance study

Sina R Potel et al. J Parkinsons Dis. 2025 Aug.
Free article

Abstract

BackgroundContinuous subcutaneous apomorphine infusion (CSAI) is a standard of care treatment in advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) to treat motor fluctuations. However, literature about its long-term data is scarce.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to report about CSAI tolerance and discontinuation predictors in a large monocentric cohort.MethodsConsecutive PD patients who had CSAI were included. CSAI duration, discontinuation rates at 3, 12, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months, demographic data, MDS-UPDRS motor score, adverse events (AEs), discontinuation reasons and predictive factors were analyzed with logistic regression.ResultsA total of 208 patients were included from 1999 to 2023 (51% male; age: 67.4 ± 8.3 years; PD duration: 11.2 ± 5.0 years). In the overall group, CSAI duration was 25.0 ± 32.9 months (median: 13.0, range: 0.1-260.0). Ninety-five patients (45.7%) discontinued CSAI after 12.7 ± 15.3 months (median: 8.0). Main discontinuation causes were switching to deep brain stimulation (44.2%) and low efficacy (15.8%). Sixty% of discontinuations occurred within the first year. CSAI duration was the only significant difference between ongoing CSAI (116) and discontinued patients (35.4 ± 39.7 vs. 11.1 ± 18.4 months; p < 0.001), after excluding 42 CSAI-to-DBS. About 79.8% patients had AEs, mainly hallucinations (41.3%) and nodules (24.0%). The best discontinuation predictors were CSAI duration and baseline off medication MDS-UPDRS motor score.ConclusionsThese results may help clinicians better select patients, anticipate and manage AEs, and predict CSAI discontinuation.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease; apomorphine; long-term; tolerance.

Plain language summary

Continuous subcutaneous administration of apomorphine using pumps is an established treatment available to individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) at an advanced stage of disease. Although its short-term efficacy and tolerance are known, more information about its long-term tolerance is needed. Therefore, we studied the apomorphine long-term tolerance, adverse effects, and discontinuation causes in individuals with PD who were treated in our hospital between 1999 and 2023. We also tried to find clinical factors that could predict apomorphine withdrawal. Of the 208 people included, 51% were male, they had a mean age of 67.4 years, and 95 (45.7%) stopped apomorphine. Overall, apomorphine pump was kept during a mean duration of 25 months. People with PD who stopped apomorphine often did so within 12 months (60%). CSAI duration was the only significant difference between ongoing CSAI individuals (35.4 months) and discontinued CSAI individuals who did not switch to deep brain stimulation (11.1 months). Discontinuations mainly occurred because of people switching from apomorphine to deep brain stimulation (44.2%), and low apomorphine efficacy (15.8%). Adverse events were common in our population since 79.8% of them had at least one. The most frequent adverse events were hallucinations, which happened in 41.3% of people, followed by skin nodules (24%). The best characteristics that could predict apomorphine withdrawal were lower initial motor score in the off-medication condition, and longer apomorphine duration. Our results may help physicians better select individuals with PD for apomorphine, anticipate and manage adverse events, and predict discontinuation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interestsSRP discloses travel grants by Adelia Medical, Ever Pharma and Asten, honoraria for speeches for Adelia Medical.EM has received honoraria from Medtronic for consulting. She has received research grant support from France Parkinson and Abbott.SM has received research grants from Grenoble Alpes University, and Abbott.VF has received consultancy fees from AbbVie France, and honoraria from Boston Scientific and The International Movement Disorders Society.

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