Parkinson's disease: Recent development in therapies for advanced disease with a focus on deep brain stimulation (DBS) and duodenal levodopa infusion

Abstract

Effective medical treatment for Parkinson's disease has been available for almost 40 years. After several years of treatment with l-dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-dopa, levodopa), however, fluctuations often occur. The patient may then experience random variations of the motor symptoms during the day. The medication becomes increasingly complicated. New therapeutic methods, deep brain stimulation and duodenal infusion of l-dopa, have proven to be very effective in stabilizing the fluctuations. A clinical update of Parkinson's disease is presented together with a short review of these two methods. © 2008 The Author.