New Methods Of Treatment Parkinson's Disease

New Methods Of Treatment Parkinson's Disease.
Parkinson's plague has no cure, but three experiential treatments may help patients cope with unpleasant symptoms and related problems, according to immature research. The research findings will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in San Diego from March 16 to 23, 2013. "Progress is being made to increase our use of medications, promote new medications and to treat symptoms that either we haven't been able to treat effectively or we didn't gain were problems for patients," said Dr Robert Hauser, professor of neurology and principal of the University of South Florida Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center in Tampa. Parkinson's disease, a degenerative understanding disorder, affects more than 1 million Americans.

It destroys will cells in the brain that make dopamine, which helps control muscle movement. Patients trial shaking or tremors, slowness of movement, balance problems and a stiffness or rigidity in arms and legs. In one study, Hauser evaluated the hallucinogen droxidopa, which is not yet approved for use in the United States, to staff patients who experience a rapid fall in blood pressure when they stand up, which causes light-headedness and dizziness. About one-fifth of Parkinson's patients have this problem, which is due to a dud of the autonomic nervous procedure to release enough of the hormone norepinephrine when posture changes.

Hauser studied 225 people with this blood-pressure problem, assigning half to a placebo bring and half to take droxidopa for 10 weeks. The anaesthetize changes into norepinephrine in the body. Those on the medicine had a two-fold decline in dizziness and lightheadedness compared to the placebo group. They had fewer falls, too, although it was not a statistically significant decline.

In a number two study, Hauser assessed 420 patients who master a daily "wearing off" of the Parkinson's drug levodopa, during which their symptoms didn't respond to the drug. He compared those who took separate doses of a new drug called tozadenant, which is not yet approved, with those who took a placebo.

All still took the levodopa. At the inauguration of the study, the patients had an average of six hours of "off time" a date when symptoms reappeared. After 12 weeks, those on a 120-milligram or 180-milligram dose of tozadenant had about an hour less of "off time" each era than they had at the start of the study.

Tozadenant, which works on brain receptors thought to operate motor function, merits further study in future trials. In another study, Hauser looked at 321 patients with inopportune stage Parkinson's whose symptoms weren't handled well by a medicine called a dopamine agonist, typically the first place drug prescribed for Parkinson's patients. During the 18-week study, Hauser assigned them to turn to either their usual medicine plus an add-on drug called rasagiline (brand big cheese Azilect) or their usual medicine and a placebo.

Azilect is approved for use in patients with early stage ailment as a single therapy or as an add-on to levodopa but not yet as an add-on to dopamine agonists. Those taking the Azilect - but not those taking the placebo - improved by 2,4 points on a orthodox Parkinson's disease rating scale. Costs of the still unapproved drugs are not known.

Azilect costs about $200 monthly at the 1-milligram constantly dosage used in the study. Each of the studies was funded by the pharmaceutical company making the particular drug: Chelsea Therapeutics paid for the blood-pressure study; Biotie Therapies Inc, supported the "wearing-off" study; and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries sponsored the Azilect study. Hauser is a adviser for all three companies.

Most stimulating of the three studies is the use of droxidopa to preclude dizziness and fainting, said Dr Michael Okun, popular medical director of the National Parkinson Foundation and director of the University of Florida Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration. Drugs are already on tap to treat the problem, and compression stockings are also often recommended.

Even so, "having another opiate in that arena is going to help a lot of people". The paraphernalia of the other two treatments are more modest who is also a neurology professor. Additional studies will help clinch how noteworthy the effects are in real life myextendershop.com. Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered prodromic until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.