New strategies in the treatment of early Parkinson's disease.

Over recent years I have been studying whether dopamine agonist treatment alone, or in early combination with levodopa, might institute a better long-term treatment in Parkinson's disease than levodopa alone. Indeed, early combination of levodopa with bromocriptine, pergolide or lisuride has indicated that this kind of treatment results in better management of Parkinson's disease with fewer fluctuations in disability, especially end-of-dose disturbances and dyskinesias, than treatment with levodopa alone. Furthermore, similar results were obtained by using lisuride in combination with selegiline and levodopa. However, during long-term treatment the changes in parkinsonian disability were equal in all treatment groups with or without selegiline. Thus, the possible efficacy of selegiline in slowing down the progression of Parkinson's disease requires further investigations. As a new treatment strategy it appears advisable to initiate the dopaminergic treatment in early Parkinson's disease by using initially selegiline and a dopamine agonist and by adding levodopa when the therapeutic response is insufficient. Another alternative would be to start with selegiline alone, then add a dopamine agonist and, finally, levodopa.