Objective: To investigate the features of acute dopaminergic responsiveness test in patients with Parkinsonian disorders, and to find a convenient approach of differential diagnosis of Parkinsonian disorders.
Methods: Sixty inpatients with Parkinson disease (PD) or Parkinson's syndrome, including vascular Parkinsonism (VP), multiple system atrophy (MSA), etc, were given the Levodopa and Benserazide tablets, containing levodopa of the doses of 62.5, 125 187.5, 250, and 375 mg in a pattern of gradual acute DOPA test. The third part of the unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS) was used to evaluate the development of PD symptom before and 1 hour after taking the medicine. The differences among the improvement rates were compared with one-way ANOVA test and post hoc multiple comparison by SSPS 11.5.
Results: The improvement rates after taking the Levodopa and Benserazide tablets were 11.3% for the dose of 62.5 mg, 23.1% for 125 mg, 29.4% for 187.5 mg, 31.2% for 250 mg, and 34.3% for 375 mg. When the dose was 65 mg there was no significant difference between the diagnoses of PD and Parkinsonism, however, when the doses were 125, 187.5, 250, and 375 mg, and the improvement rates > or = 23.1%, 29.4%, 31.2%, and 34.3% were used as the indicators of diagnosis of PD, there were significant differences between the diagnoses of PD and Parkinson's syndrome.
Conclusion: Easy and convenient, acute dopaminergic responsiveness test is not associated with sex, age, and H-Y ranking, and is an important approach in differential diagnosis of Parkinsonian disorders.