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Combined L‐Dopa and Amantadine in Parkinsonism
Author(s) -
Pollock Martin,
Jorgensen Per. B.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 0004-8291
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-5994.1972.tb03070.x
Subject(s) - amantadine , medicine , parkinsonism , placebo , parkinson's disease , levodopa , pharmacology , disease , pathology , alternative medicine
Summary: The effectiveness of combined amantadine and L‐dopa versus L‐dopa therapy alone was investigated by a double‐blind technique in 38 Parkinsonian patients. No significant difference in total assessment scores was seen during amantadine/L‐dopa and placebo/L‐dopa treatment. Optimal L‐dopa was significantly better ( p < 0.01) than combined amantadine and suboptimal L‐dopa therapy. It is concluded that the combination of amantadine and L‐dopa is infrequently synergistic. A highly significant correlation was found between response to amantadine and subsequent response to L‐dopa. This finding suggests that it may be possible to predict the long term response to L‐dopa in Parkinson's disease by a short trial of amantadine.