Expert praises Parkinson's treatment
04 Dec 2008

The treatment of Parkinson's disease with levodopa has been discussed in a recent study from the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, USA.

Dr Peter A LeWitt, a neurologist at the medical institution, has had his latest comments published in the December 4th edition of the New England Journal of Medicine - and has taken the opportunity to heap praise on the drug.

He states that levodopa is not only an effective solution for the treatment of both early and advanced stages of Parkinson's, but can also be utilised to confirm suspected cases of the disease.

"Within a few minutes after taking an oral dose of levodopa, a patient can recover from previous impairments in speech, dexterity and gait," he notes.

In addition, Dr LeWitt suggests levodopa treatment can be easily postponed where symptoms are "mild and tolerable", but adds the drug could be the exclusive option in limiting patient discomfort in such cases.

Staff at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute in Canada recently examined the subcellular location of Parkin - the product of the Parkinson's disease-related gene Park2 - to learn about the role of the protein in cell cytoplasm.

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