Efficacy of antiparkinsonian therapy in tremor correction according to tremorography

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate the efficacy of antiparkinsonian drugs of different groups considering the frequency-amplitude characteristics in the correction of tremulous hyperkinesis in Parkinson's disease (PD) using tremorography. Material and methods. 172 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of PD were observed. Taking into account age and contraindications, patients were divided into four groups receiving one of four drugs in monotherapy: dopamine receptor agonists (ADR; pramipexole), levodopa (Tidomet forte), anticholinergics (biperiden), amantadines (amantadine sulfate). Before starting treatment and after completion of the selected therapy, patients underwent tremorography to analyse the frequency, amplitude and duration of tremor over time in four standard tests. Results. All antiparkinsonian drugs reduced rest tremor, and the efficacy of pramipexole in treating tremor was comparable to that of levodopa in the early stages of the disease. As the severity of the disease increased, the efficacy of ADRs decreased, whereas levodopa became more important. Amantadine sulfate showed the lowest efficacy in rest tremor. The efficacy of anticholinergics against tremor is high but inconsistent. Conclusion. We demonstrated feasibility of using tremorography in the selection of an individualised treatment programme for patients with shaking hyperkinesis in PD , and the high efficacy of levodopa in shaking hyperkinesis was confirmed.

Keywords

• parkinson's disease
• tremor
• drug therapy
• levodopa