Rotigotine skin patch improves swallowing in patients with Parkinson’s disease

This study compared the effectiveness of rotigotine (Neupro) patch in treating dysphagia (DYS; difficulty in swallowing) in patients with Parkinson's disease. Researchers suggested that rotigotine was associated with greater improvements in DYS in these patients.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive disease that affects brain cells and nervous system. These cells lose their ability to control movement and other body functions such as swallowing. Patients with DYS experience frequent aspiration of food to the lungs. This can cause a serious infection and the death of the patient.

The standard treatment for PD is oral levodopa. However, long-term treatment is associated with negative side effects such as wearing-off symptoms. This happens when the symptoms come back (sometimes worse) between doses due to variations of the drug in the blood.

Although some studies showed that levodopa improves DYS, others did not. In contrast to levodopa, several studies showed the effectiveness of rotigotine in the treatment of DYS. This might be due to the continuous mode of delivery of rotigotine through a skin patch.

The effectiveness of both drugs in the treatment of DYS in patients with PD is still not clear.  

This study included information about 50 patients with PD and DYS. These patients were assigned to receive 2mg per day of rotigotine skin patch (29) or 200mg per day of oral levodopa with carbidopa (21). DYS was assessed before and after treatment.

Patients treated with rotigotine had a more significant improvement in DYS when compared to levodopa.

This study concluded that rotigotine was associated with a greater improvement of DYS when compared to levodopa.

This study had a limited number of patients. Further studies with a bigger population are needed.

If you have concerns regarding PD management, please consult with your doctor.