What is it about?
As there is no biomarker for Parkinson's disease (PD), the diagnosis is clinical. In the initial stage of it is difficult to make a correct diagnosis and how the patient would respond to levodopa. Acute Levodopa Challenge Test (ALCT) is used in patients with parkinsonism of <2 years duration. Here a large dose of levodopa in given to patients to see whether, he/she is responding to the drug with improvement of motor features. We also saw the development of any intolerance to the drug and any side effect to levodopa namely dyskinesia. We found the test is good to predict a correct diagnosis of PD seeing a good response to levodopa after 18 months of followup after the test. The test is also found to predict a diagnosis of multi system atrophy (MSA) if patient develop dyskinesia or intolerance immediately after ALCT.
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Why is it important?
The test is found to be an effective tool to predict a correct diagnosis of PD and MSA in the very early stage of the disease
Perspectives
When there is a doubt in making a clinical diagnosis of PD or PD plus, the test may be a helpful tool to the clinician.
Prof. Atanu Biswas
Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Predicting Long-Term Outcome of Patients of Early Parkinsonism with Acute Levodopa Challenge Test, Neurology India, January 2021, Medknow,
DOI: 10.4103/0028-3886.314539.
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