Advanced treatment on offer for Parkinson’s

AN advanced therapy for Parkinson’s disease patients is now being used in Tasmania, with the first patient recently treated at Launceston General Hospital.

The Tasmanian Health Service is able to offer the new treatment thanks to the arrival of neurologist Dr Matthew Lee-Archer earlier this year and the support of the wider LGH medical community.

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease affecting the brain that results in a progressive loss of dopamine, leading to slowness of movement, rigidity and tremor.

Previously, patients were forced to travel interstate for this particular treatment.

Dr Lee-Archer said advanced therapies, for those whose symptoms could not be controlled in more traditional ways, dramatically improved patients’ quality of life.

“Patients taking medication orally are constrained as to how and when they can take the tablets,” Dr Lee-Archer said.

“For some, their dopamine levels fluctuate constantly, meaning it can become a clockwatching exercise for when they can take medication.

“Advanced therapies can be life-changing.”

A drug called Duodopa is one of the advanced therapies available at the LGH, administered through a tube that is inserted into the intestine, with a pump delivering the required dosage.

This ensures a steady concentration of dopamine is always available in the brain to relieve the patient’s symptoms.

Up to seven patients a year are likely to be identified as suitable for Duodopa therapy.