Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Apr 2000
Case ReportsHedonistic homeostatic dysregulation in patients with Parkinson's disease on dopamine replacement therapies.
Hedonistic homeostatic dysregulation is a neuropsychological behavioural disorder associated with substance misuse and addiction. The disorder has been recognised as a consequence of dopamine replacement therapy (DRT) in 15 patients with Parkinson's disease. The syndrome typically develops in male patients with early onset Parkinson's disease, and can occur with orally and subcutaneously administered DRT. ⋯ Tolerance develops to mood elevating effects of DRT and a negative affective withdrawal state occurs if the drugs are withdrawn or doses decreased. The clinical features and guidelines for managing this syndrome are discussed. A set of diagnostic criteria for further investigating this condition is proposed.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Apr 2000
Disability outcome measures in therapeutic trials of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: effects of heterogeneity of disease course in placebo cohorts.
Recent phase III clinical trials of immunomodulatory therapies in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis have shown significant benefits of active treatment on relapse related end points, but effects on disability outcomes have been inconsistent. These apparent discrepancies could be due to differences in the clinical end points employed, the behaviour of placebo cohorts, or both. ⋯ In relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis treatment trials, the conventional measure of mean EDSS change has low sensitivity, whereas the widely applied confirmed progression end points have high error rates regardless of their definition stringency. Alternative methods with better data utilisation include AUC summary measures and categorical disease trend analysis. The heterogeneity of disability outcomes in short trials, combined with unreliable clinical end points, diminishes the credibility of therapeutic claims aimed at reducing irreversible neurological deficits. The behaviour of patients treated with placebo should be carefully analysed before conclusions are drawn on the efficacy of putative treatments.