Presently, treatment of PD focuses on symptomatic therapy, that is to control motor symptoms, at the lowest possible dose, so as nor to develop early drug resistance, and consequent extrapyramidal symtoms. However, there has been no clinical trial, to date that has provided definitive evidence of pharmacological neuroprotection. Among the drugs with possible neuroprotective effects are the dopamine agonists.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to determine the efficacy and safety of Rotigotine transdermal patch in the treatment of early Parkinson's disease in terms of improvement in the functional capacity and the incidence of adverse effects in patients treatment with the said drug .
METHODOLOGY: Literature search of all randomized controlled trials, published from 1999-2009 comparing rotigotine patch with placebo, in patients with Parkinson's disease. Types of outcome measures- The primary outcome studied was the number of responders described as those with> 20% decrease in UPDRS Scores. The secondary outcome include the mean change in UPDRS score and the total incidence of adverse effects on patients on rotigotine patch.
RESULTS: The use of Rotigotine patch in early Parkinson's disease shows as trend toward benefit and was statistically significant (OR 0.33) in terms of number of patients who showed a significant change in UPRDS scores. In terms of UPDRS scoring, there was significant improvement for those who took Rotigotene (MD 5.2.5). However, incidence of adverse effects was higher in the Rotigotine group compared to the placebo group (OR 3.13)
CONCLUSION: The evidence from this review supports the use of Rorigotine patch for the treatment of early Parkinson's disease. This has shown to produce clinical improvement in parkinsonian symptoms as measured by the significant decrease in the UPDRS Scores on follow-up. However, adverse events were similar to those found with other dopamine agonists.