BMJ  2004;329 (11 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7466.0-h

Editor's choice

Parkinson's disease: a journey

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Some drugs are like weapons of mass destruction: often heard about but seldom seen. Selegiline, a monoamine oxidase type B inhibitor, was hailed in the 1980s as a drug that might alter the clinical course of idiopathic Parkinson's disease—and not just relieve symptoms (p 581). A research paper published in the BMJ in 1995 (bmj.com/cgi/content/full/311/7020/1602) curbed that optimism by indicating that people taking selegiline and levodopa had a higher risk of death than those taking levodopa alone. Now this week's issue carries a meta-analysis of 17 trials comparing monoamine oxidase type B inhibitors with placebo and finds this class of drug improves symptoms, delays the use of levodopa, and lower doses can be used once levodopa is required (p 593).

Reclaiming older, cheaper drugs on the basis of sound evidence has become fashionable and the ALLHAT trial signalled a preference for thiazide diuretics over . . . [Full text of this article]

Kamran Abbasi, acting editor

(kabbasi@bmj.com)


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Using monoamine oxidase type B inhibitors in Parkinson's disease
Yoav Ben-Shlomo and Kailash Bhatia
BMJ 2004 329: 581-582. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

The patient's journey: travelling through life with a chronic illness
Peter Lapsley and Trish Groves
BMJ 2004 329: 582-583. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

MPs launch inquiry into influence of drug industry
Ray Moynihan
BMJ 2004 329: 587. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

GlaxoSmithKline to set up comprehensive online clinical trials register
Owen Dyer
BMJ 2004 329: 590. [Extract] [Full Text]

The journey: Parkinson's disease
Mary G Baker and Lizzie Graham
BMJ 2004 329: 611-614. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

The fate and career destinations of doctors who qualified at Uganda's Makerere Medical School in 1984: retrospective cohort study
Yoswa M Dambisya
BMJ 2004 329: 600-601. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Monoamine oxidase type B inhibitors in early Parkinson's disease: meta-analysis of 17 randomised trials involving 3525 patients
Natalie J Ives, Rebecca L Stowe, Joanna Marro, Carl Counsell, Angus Macleod, Carl E Clarke, Richard Gray, and Keith Wheatley
BMJ 2004 329: 593. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Muhammad Ali and Parkinson's syndrome
Helen Grant
bmj.com, 13 Sep 2004 [Full text]
Parkinson's disease: the role of psychiatrists is ignored.
Dr. Naseem A. Qureshi MD, IMAPA, LMIPS, et al.
bmj.com, 15 Sep 2004 [Full text]



Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student 

BMJ