title: Greater motor improvement in right hemibody Parkinson's patients after dopaminergic medications.
abstract: Due to motor and neuropathological asymmetries, Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with right hemibody onset (RHO) of symptoms may experience greater benefit from dopaminergic enhancing medications, relative to patients with left hemibody onset (LHO). We investigated this possibility by measuring UPDRS scores of 20 PD patients with LHO and 13 patients with RHO, both prior and subsequent to taking dopaminergic enhancing medications. Following treatment, the motor score from the UPDRS improved for both groups of patients. However, PD patients with RHO experienced greater improvement in motor functioning following administration of dopaminergic enhancing medications than those with LHO.
authors.affiliation: University of Florida, Gainesville, FL , USA. paul.foster@neurology.ufl.edu
authors.forename: Paul S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Drago
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Skidmore
authors.forename: Barry M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Skoblar
authors.forename: Gregory P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Crucian
authors.forename: Kenneth M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Heilman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002230:Carbidopa / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015259:Dopamine Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009069:Movement Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D015259:Dopamine Agents; D007980:Levodopa; D002230:Carbidopa