[Treatment and prognosis of the therapeutic effect of L-DOPA in dystonia musculorum deformans].

Clinico-biochemical examinations of 55 patients suffering from various clinical forms of deforming myodystonia were performed. L-DOPA was used in 47 cases. A correlation between the therapeutic effect and the level of phenylacetylglutamine excretion was revealed. The increase of the phenylacetylglutamine excretion was an evidence of a positive result of the treatment that was noted in 36 patients (77%). A resistance to the drug was observed in cases when the phenylacetylglutamine excretion did not exceed its normal level. The quantitative determination of phenylacetylglutamine in the daily portion of the urine can be used as a prognostic test of the therapeutic efficacy of L-DOPA in patients with deforming myodystonia.