Review: Management of Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most frequent neurological diseases. Despite the modern imaging and nuclear techniques which help to diagnose it in a very early stage and lead to a better discrimination of similar diseases, PD has remained a clinical diagnosis. The increasing number of available treatment options makes the disease management often complicated even when the presence of PD seems undoubted. In addition, nonmotor symptoms and side effects of some therapies constitute some pitfalls already in the preclinical state or at the beginnings of the disease, especially with the progressive effect on patients. Therefore, this review aimed to summarize study results and depict recommended medical treatments for the most common motor and nonmotor symptoms in PD. Additionally, emerging new therapeutic options such as continuous pump therapies, eg, with apomorphine or parenteral levodopa, or the implantation of electrodes for deep brain stimulation were also considered. © 2013 Pedrosa and Timmermann, publisher and licensee Dove Medical Press Ltd.