Selegiline and levodopa in early or moderately advanced Parkinson's disease: a double-blind controlled short- and long-term study

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Abstract
– Selegiline 10 mg per day was compared to placebo as an adjunct to levodopa treatment in this double‐blind study of early or moderately advanced Parkinson's disease. Thirty‐eight patients completed an initial cross‐over trial comprising two treatment periods, each of eight weeks, with a four weeks’wash‐out period between them. Thirty of the patients continued in a long‐term, double‐blind parallel trial with a mean duration of 16 months (range 6–30 months). Selegiline treatment allowed a significant reduction of the necessary daily levodopa dose in both parts of the study and of the daily dosing frequency in the long‐term investigation. In spite of this reduction of levodopa dose, an improvement was noted in tremor during the short‐term selegiline periods. The side‐effects were slight and related to dopamine effects and disappeared after reduction of levodopa‐dose. The results support the use of selegiline as an early adjunctive treatment in Parkinson's disease.