title: Use of apomorphine in parkinsonian patients with neuropsychiatric complications to oral treatment.
abstract: Neuropsychiatric side effects often complicate anti-Parkinsonian therapy and pose a significant problem in the optimal management of idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Several publications report a relative lack of neuropsychiatric side effects in Parkinsonian patients treated with subcutaneous apomorphine. To investigate this further, we have used subcutaneous apomorphine to treat 12 non-demented IPD patients with previous oral drug-related neuropsychiatric problems. Treatment with apomorphine allowed alteration of anti-Parkinsonian medication and led to the abolition or reduction of neuropsychiatric complications in all patients. The mechanism remains unclear but may be due, in part, to a reduction in oral medication or a psychotropic action of apomorphine, possibly due to the piperidine moiety in its structure, or both.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Institute of Psychiatry and King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, U.K.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lemmens
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Parkes
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Abbott
authors.forename: I F
authors.initials: IF
authors.lastname: Pye
authors.forename: P N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Leigh
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Chaudhuri