Effect of ropinirole on visuo-motor test in newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease patients.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to assess the sensitivity of the visuo-motor test (VMT) compared with the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) in newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease (PD) patients.


METHODS
VMT and UPDRS were carried out in 20 patients before treatment onset, 2 weeks after treatment with ropinirole 1.5 mg/day and 2 weeks following increasing the dose of ropinirole to 3.0 mg/day.


RESULTS
Improvement in clinical status was seen in all patients, with a mean UPDRS reduction of 16.6% following treatment with ropinirole 1.5 mg/day, and 38.9% reduction in UPDRS observed with ropinirole 3.0 mg/day. Initial improvement was not correlated with severity of PD, although further improvement with ropinirole 3.0 mg/day correlated linearly with patient's baseline UPDRS. Improvement in the ability to control the direction of the moving hand during tracing is expressed by the reduction of VMT variables following treatment. Mean VMT variables were 36.2% at baseline, 34.0% with ropinirole 1.5 mg/day and 31.7% with ropinirole 3.0 mg/day. Although changes in VMT variables were less uniform across patients, on average, it did correlate with patients UPDRS.


CONCLUSIONS
We suggest that VMT can be useful in the assessment of treatment effect on high-level motor planning and cognitive capabilities in newly diagnosed PD patients, added to the UPDRS which does not appropriately comply with those skills.
Badarny
S
S
Movement Disorders Clinic, Department of Neurology, Carmel Medical Center, Haifa, Israel. samihba@clalit.org.il
Stern
A
A
Susel
Z
Z
Honigman
S
S
Hocherman
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007211:Indoles / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D007211:Indoles; C046649:ropinirole