title: Successful orchestration of antiparkinsonian pharmacotherapy.
abstract: As is true with the orchestration of essentially all forms of pharmacotherapy, the overall quality of therapy should not be judged as a simple binary function (it is either good or bad). Rather, it should be judged along a continuum, spanning adequate through excellent and peaking at truly elegant, where two or more disease states are optimally managed with a single, simple drug. Because the difference between adequate and elegant therapy often depends on fine-tuning the drug choice, dosage, and route of administration, it is no surprise that pharmacists are often intimately involved in many highly successful specialty clinics, including Parkinson's disease clinics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Scheife
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002230:Carbidopa / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015897:Comorbidity; D018450:Disease Progression; D004338:Drug Combinations; D020820:Dyskinesias / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010595:Pharmacists
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D004338:Drug Combinations; C009265:carbidopa, levodopa drug combination; D007980:Levodopa; D002230:Carbidopa