[Current approaches in the treatment of Parkinson disease]

The latest improvements in Parkinson's disease therapy are reviewed with particular emphasis on the management of long-term treatment syndrome, which has become the chief problem for Parkinson patients since the introduction of levodopa. Current research is directed at overcoming this effect by 1) combining levodopa with new dopamine agonists such as cabergoline or terguride, which have useful pharmacological properties; 2) administering the drugs in different ways to improve their bioavailability (intravenous or subcutaneous infusion); 3) understanding the neurobiological implications of cellular brain grafting; 4) safely transferring the surgical procedure from the experimental to the clinical field.