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Selegeline was the first med prescribed for me after diagnosis. I never took it. How would one know if progression of the disease is slowed when everyone is so different? To my knowledge there is no standard rate of progression. Ray ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peggy Willocks" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 5:43 PM Subject: Correction on Selegeline's neuroprotection > Not too long ago I reported that after 7 years of study, they had > concluded > that Selegeline (Eldepryl) was neuroprotective. Below (at end) is the > recent > finding is the study I read to make that conclusion. > > However, I just received a further explanation from a movement disorder > specialist at Vanderbilt (Nashville, TN) that I stated this incorrectly. > Read his explanation: > > "Unfortunately that study looked only at the symptoms of Parkinson's > disease > and not disease progression. In there study design, any agent that > provides > symptomatic benefit will slow the progressions of symptoms. The authors > state in their discussion that they can not comment on the possible > neuroprotective effects of selegiline. As you know, there are many > potential > neuroprotective agents in various stages of study and the universal > difficulty has been the lack of a reliable biomarker of disease > progression > that is not effected by symptomatic therapy > > by Dr. Thomas Davis > Associate Professor of Neurology > Director, Division of Movement Disorders > Vanderbilt University School of Medicine > > This just goes to show you that the untrained eye can be easily misled. > Peggy > > > Neurology. 2006 Mar 15; [Epub ahead of print] > > Selegiline slows the progression of the symptoms of Parkinson disease. > Abstract-- OBJECTIVE: To study the long-term effects of selegiline in > monotherapy and in combination with levodopa in the early phase of > Parkinson > disease (PD). > > METHODS: One hundred fifty-seven de novo PD patients were randomized in a > double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 7 years' duration. In the > monotherapy part, selegiline significantly delayed the initiation of > levodopa therapy vs placebo. The authors now report the results from the > combination part of the study, in which 140 patients received selegiline > or > placebo in addition to individually tailored levodopa therapy. > > RESULTS: Compared with placebo, selegiline slowed the progression of > disease > disability as measured by the Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale > (UPDRS)total score (p = 0.003) or by motor (p = 0.002) and Activities of > Daily Living (p = 0.0002) subscores. After 5 years in combination therapy, > the mean difference in the UPDRS total score was nearly 10 points, with > patients receiving placebo having 35% higher scores. Simultaneously, > patients receiving placebo needed progressively higher doses of levodopa > than patients receiving selegiline; after 5 years, the mean dosage of > levodopa was 19% higher with placebo than with selegiline (p = 0.0002). > Considering the entire (monotherapy and combination therapy) 7-year study > time, there was a trend for selegiline to delay the start of wearing-off > fluctuations > (hazard ratio 0.55, p = 0.08). In both phases of the study, selegiline was > safe and well tolerated. > > CONCLUSIONS: The results of this long-term study confirm earlier findings > indicating that selegiline delays the progression of the signs and > symptoms > of Parkinson disease. > > PMID: 16540603 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn