[Medical treatment of Parkinson's disease]

Our understanding of Parkinson's disease (PD) has evolved. Parkinson's disease is no longer regarded a pure motor disorder, but a complex disease with motor as well as non-motor symptoms, the latter having a major impact on the quality of life of the patient as well as the caregiver. After a few years of suffering from PD, complications of therapy add invariably to the burden of the disease. Many of these complications are not volunteered by the patient or the caregiver, either due to their embarrassing nature or due to lack of insight of their causal relationship with PD or the treatment of PD. However, proper treatment of PD has to address the non-motor symptoms and the complications of therapy as well.