Treatment for Parkinson’s Disease using Duopa Pump in LA
Duopa therapy involves administering carbidopa/levodopa in gel form rather than oral pills. It’s a pump-delivered therapy that found approval by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in January 2015. For advanced-stage PD patients, the therapy is invaluable as it reduces reliance on daily medication, which can often loses effectiveness with time.
Before the therapy can even begin, surgeons make a small hole (also known as “stoma”) inside the stomach wall to insert a tube in the intestines. A pump then proceeds to slowly push the Duopa inside the intestines via a tube. This enables the body to smoothly absorb the medicine and reduce dyskinesia and motor fluctuations.
* This is a research and this service is not available in our clinic
Duopa therapy is only approved for patients who respond positively to levodopa and are in the advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease. To determine whether a patient is a suitable candidate for the treatment, doctors look out for the following symptoms:
- The patient experiences routine motor fluctuations with more than three hours of “off” time
- MAO-B inhibitors or dopamine agonists have proved ineffective in controlling motor fluctuations.
A few considerations to keep in mind are that the treatment shares the same side-effects as oral ingestion of carbidopa/levodopa. These include orthostatic hypotension, nausea, constipation, dry mouth, dyskinesia, hallucinations, and confusion. However, it should also be stated that Duopa is considered to be the most effective medication by numerous PD experts. It also greatly reduces reliance on oral pills and increases the time between symptoms.
Dr. Farzin Pedouim is a board-certified neurologist and Parkinson’s disease specialist based in Huntington Beach and Los Angeles. He provides Duopa treatment at his clinic for patients with advanced stages of PD seeking relief from the symptoms.