Parkinson's disease: the case for novel treatment strategies.
Over the past 30 years, significant strides have been made toward improving symptomatic therapy of patients with Parkinson's disease. However, limitations persist, and the incremental improvement each new drug offers a patient yields only a minimal advantage therapeutically. Therefore, to alter meaningfully the natural course of this debilitating disorder, which becomes more prevalent each year in our society, significant novel therapeutic approaches must be tested. Genetic intervention in Parkinson's disease may offer an entirely different method for treating this disease in the future, based not only on symptomatic therapy, but also on neuroprotective and/or neuroregenerative therapy which would alter the natural history of relentless progression.
Stern
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MB
Graduate Hospital Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19146, USA.
Freese
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A
D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015259:Dopamine Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018491:Dopamine Agonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009462:Neurology / Q000639:trends*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*
D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D015259:Dopamine Agents; D018491:Dopamine Agonists; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors; D007980:Levodopa