25th April 2018 - New research
MICROTABLET DISPENSER FOR MORE PRECISE L-DOPA DOSAGE
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A study has assessed the effect of introducing a microtablet dose dispenser and adjusting doses based on the monitoring of motor symptoms in people with Parkinson's Disease. Forms of L-dopa are usually limited to certain doses and are consequently not adaptable to needs. A microtablet dose dispenser enables more precise doses of L-dopa.
Daytime doses of L-dopa were replaced with L-dopa / carbidopa microtablets, 5mg / 1.25 mg delivered from a dose dispenser device with programmable reminders. After two weeks, doses were adjusted based on ambulatory accelerometry and clinical monitoring. The daily L-dopa dose was increased by 15% from period 1 to 2, and the dose interval was reduced by 12%. The MDS-UPDRS parts II and III, disease-specific quality of life (PDQ-8), wearing-off symptoms (WOQ-19), and nonmotor symptoms improved after dose increases.
Evaluation of accelerometry results demonstrated improvement in 60% of subjects and worsening in 25% of them. The introduction of an L-dopa microtablet dispenser and accelerometry aided dose adjustments Parkinson's Disease improve symptoms and quality of life in the short term.
Reference : CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics [2018] 24 (5) : 439-447 (D.Jan Johansson, A.Ericsson, A.Johansson, A.Medvedev, D.Nyholm, F.Ohlsson, M.Senek, J.Spira, I.Thomas, J.Westin, F.Bergquist) Complete abstract In order to refer to this article on its own click here