• D De Gaspari, C Siri, A Landi, R Cilia, A Bonetti, F Natuzzi, L Morgante, C B Mariani, E Sganzerla, G Pezzoli, and A Antonini.
• Centro Parkinson, Istituti Clinici di Pefezionamento, 20126 Milan, Italy.
• J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. 2006 Apr 1;77(4):450-3.

BackgroundThe clinical condition of advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) patients is often complicated by motor fluctuations and dyskinesias which are difficult to control with available oral medications.ObjectiveTo compare clinical and neuropsychological 12 month outcome following subcutaneous apomorphine infusion (APO) and chronic deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) in advanced PD patients.MethodsPatients with advanced PD and medically untreatable fluctuations underwent either APO (13 patients) or STN-DBS (12 patients). All patients were clinically (UPDRS-III, AIMS, 12 h on-off daily) and neuropsychologically (MMSE, Hamilton-17 depression, NPI) evaluated at baseline and at 12 months. APO was discontinued at night.ResultsAt 12 months APO treatment (74.78+/-24.42 mg/day) resulted in significant reduction in off time (-51%) and no change in AIMS. Levodopa equivalent medication doses were reduced from 665.98+/-215 mg/day at baseline to 470+/-229 mg/day. MMSE, NPI, and Hamilton depression scores were unchanged. At 12 months STN-DBS resulted in significant clinical improvement in terms of reduction in daily off time (-76%) and AIMS (-81%) as well as levodopa equivalent medication doses (980+/-835 to 374+/-284 mg/day). Four out of 12 patients had stopped oral medications. MMSE was unchanged (from 28.6+/-0.3 to 28.4+/-0.6). Hamilton depression was also unchanged, but NPI showed significant worsening (from 6.58+/-9.8 to 18.16+/-10.2; p<0.02). Category fluency also declined.ConclusionsBoth APO and STN-DBS resulted in significant clinical improvement in complicated PD. STN-DBS resulted in greater reduction in dopaminergic medications and provided 24 h motor benefit. However, STN-DBS, unlike APO, appears to be associated with significant worsening on NPI resulting from long term behavioral problems in some patients.

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