[Drug therapy of Parkinson disease]

The author reviews the various strategies for treatment of Parkinson's disease by modern drugs. Either levodopa or a levodopa agonist is recommended for treatment of early Parkinson's disease. For long-term treatment, a combination of levodopa and levodopa agonist is preferable, since combined treatment appears to cause fewer side effects and motor fluctuations than does high dose monotherapy. Selegeline may be added, both in initial and long-term treatment. However, it is still uncertain whether selegeline acts only as a dopamine agonist, or also has a neuroprotective effect.