Long-term therapy of Parkinson's disease with amantadine, alone and combined with levodopa.
A dual study was conducted to assess (1) the long-term antiparkinsonian action of amantadine without levodopa and (2) the advantage of combined amantadine and levodopa over single-drug therapy, including changes in symptom severity when placebo replaces amantadine but levodopa is maintained.Good to excellent results were obtained in 25% of the total pool of 77 patients on amantadine. No decline in therapeutic effect took place during a mean follow-up of 21 months.Thirty-seven patients with considerable residual deficit after single-drug therapy derived improvement from the second drug (levodopa or amantadine). Gains in neurological signs and activities of daily living (ADL) ranged between 50 and 60% and for timed skills close to 25%. Depending on the individual indices, between 64 and 100% of patients improved with the second drug.Placebo instead of amantadine produced deterioration. There was 75% loss in ADL, 45% loss in timed skills and losses in neurological signs exceeded gains produced by two-drug therapy.
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000547:Amantadine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004295:Dihydroxyphenylalanine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000187:drug effects; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010919:Placebos; D013997:Time Factors
D010919:Placebos; D004295:Dihydroxyphenylalanine; D000547:Amantadine