APOMORPHINE INFUSIONAL THERAPY IN PARKINSONS-DISEASE - CLINICAL UTILITY AND LACK OF TOLERANCE

We assessed the clinical utility of apomorphine infusional therapy in patients with parkinsonism and motor fluctuations and sought evidence for alterations in drug response resulting from chronic treatment. Six patients with Parkinson's disease were treated for 3 months with s.c, infusions of apomorphine administered during waking hours. At the beg inning and the end of the study, test doses of apomorphine (12.5-100 m u g/kg) were administered to establish a dose-response curve. Over the study, the patients reported a significant improvement in the number of ''on'' hours experienced per day and substantially reduced the dose and frequency of levodopa and other antiparkinsonian medications. No average change in apomorphine dose-response relationships or pharmacok inetics was observed during the study, However, two patients lowered t he infusion rate during the 3-month observation and exhibited higher d rug levels and longer responses following test doses of apomorphine gi ven at the end of the study. Although pragmatic concerns with the use of infusion pumps solutions and adverse effects limited the overall be nefit afforded by the treatment, this kind of drug treatment may be us eful in selected patients with severe parkinsonism and fluctuations.