[Bromocriptin in the treatment of progressive stages of Parkinson's disease (author's transl)]

Abstract

Forty patients with severe Parkinson's disease (23 men, 17 women) who had been treated for six years with L-dopa-decarboxylase inhibitor, were part of a placebo-controlled double-blind trial to test the effectiveness of bromocriptin. In all patients the effectiveness of L-dopa had been decreasing, 34 patients had L-dopa-induced dyskinesias, 35 "on-off" symptoms. Bromocriptin dosage was gradually increased to a total dose of 30 - 40 mg daily. This led to a 25% reduction in L-dopa requirements. The symptoms of Parkinson's disease were favourably influenced, with rigor, tremor and also walking disturbances responding better than bradykinesia of the hands. At the same time, there was a marked prolongation of the periods of good mobility ("on" time) from 7 to 10.8 hours without influence on other "on-off" symptoms such as paradoxical akinesia. Two patients had to be excluded from the trial because the treatment caused side effects (orthostatic hypotension, exogenous psychotic symptoms). Other side effects, such as nausea and mild forms of collapse, could be controlled by drugs.