Greater motor improvement in right hemibody Parkinson's patients after dopaminergic medications

Foster, Paul S.; Drago, Valeria; Skidmore, Frank; Skoblar, Barry M.; Crucian, Gregory P.; Heilman, Kenneth M.

doi:10.1016/j.parkreldis.2008.02.006

« Previous Next »Parkinsonism & Related Disorders
Volume 15, Issue 1 , Pages 20-23, January 2009

Greater motor improvement in right hemibody Parkinson's patients after dopaminergic medications

Paul S. Foster
- University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
- Malcom Randall VAMC, Gainesville, FL, USA
- Psychology Department, Middle Tennessee State University, 1500 Greenland Drive, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA
- Corresponding author. Psychology Department, Middle Tennessee State University, 1500 Greenland Drive, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA. Tel.: +1 615 898 2007; fax: +1 615 898 5027.
Valeria Drago
- University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
- Malcom Randall VAMC, Gainesville, FL, USA
- Oasi Institute for Research on Mental Retardation and Brain Aging, Troina, EN, Italy
Frank Skidmore
- University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
- Malcom Randall VAMC, Gainesville, FL, USA
Barry M. Skoblar
- Hunter Holmes McGuire VAMC, Richmond, VA, USA
Gregory P. Crucian
- University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
- Brain Injury Rehabilitation Service, Burwood Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand
Kenneth M. Heilman
- University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
- Malcom Randall VAMC, Gainesville, FL, USA

Received 25 July 2007; received in revised form 26 December 2007; accepted 8 February 2008.

Abstract

Due to motor and neuropathological asymmetries, Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with right hemibody onset (RHO) of symptoms may experience greater benefit from dopaminergic enhancing medications, relative to patients with left hemibody onset (LHO). We investigated this possibility by measuring UPDRS scores of 20 PD patients with LHO and 13 patients with RHO, both prior and subsequent to taking dopaminergic enhancing medications. Following treatment, the motor score from the UPDRS improved for both groups of patients. However, PD patients with RHO experienced greater improvement in motor functioning following administration of dopaminergic enhancing medications than those with LHO.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease, Hemibody, Dopaminergic, Motor, Improvement