Two years' experience with levodopa-entacapone-carbidopa intestinal gel treatment in advanced Parkinson's disease

Introduction: In advanced Parkinson's disease, oral or transdermal dopaminergic treatment is not effective enough and have significant side effects, so it may be necessary to use device-aided therapies for continuous dopaminergic stimulation. Objective: Our aim was to compare the clinical parameters of patients with advanced Parkinson's disease treated with levodopa-entacapone-carbidopa intestinal gel before the start of the treatment and at the discharge from the hospital. Method: We retrospectively analyzed data from patients who started levodopa-entacapone-carbidopa intestinal gel treatment: the patients' general and neurological condition, previous treatment, medication side effects, and complications of Parkinson's disease. Results: Levodopa-entacapone-carbidopa intestinal gel treatment was initiated in 29 patients. The patients had an initial off state of 4.7 +/- 0.8 hours/day. 20 patients suffered from moderately severe peak-dose dyskinesia (2.8 +/- 1.2 hours/day) and 6 patients from severe dyskinesia (2.1 +/- 1.0 hours/day). After treatment, the duration of the off state decreased significantly. There was a similar trend for mild or moderate dyskinesias, while severe dyskinesias disappeared completely. The sudden off states that occurred in 7 patients, were not present at discharge. After treatment, the early morning akinesia only occurred in 8 out of the initial 24. Discussion: The introduction of levodopa-entacapone-carbidopa intestinal gel proved to be effective, although our patients started the treatment later than recommended, and with serious motor complications. The mild, transient side effects related to treatment were comparable to literature. No entacapone-naive patient experienced gastrointestinal side effects. Conclusion: The effect of levodopa-carbidopa-entacapone intestinal gel on improving motor complications is similar to that of levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel, with the advantage of lower daily levodopa dose and a smaller device. Further studies and longer clinical experience are necessary to recommend which of the two types of levodopa-containing enteral gel is more advantageous in individual cases. Long-term safety is also an important aspect in this decision, in order to improve the patients' quality of life.