[Parkinson disease--new aspects of therapy]

Treatment of Parkinson's disease has to be considered as long-term treatment of a progressive illness. Basically we try a substitution of the dopamine deficiency by administration of levodopa in combination with a decarboxylase inhibitor. The occurrence of long-term complications such as fluctuations of mobility (on/off phenomena) and dyskinesias caused the use of lower levodopa doses and the simultaneous application of other antiparkinson drugs, e. g. anticholinergics, amantadines, dopamine agonists and MAO-B-inhibitors. When administering additional drugs, kind and severity of the parkinsonian symptomatology as well as the specific side effects of the different drugs have to be taken in consideration. According to recent experimental and clinical findings MAO-B-inhibitors may have protective effects on the neurons thus delaying the course of the disease.