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Dr. Stanley Fahn, H> Houston Merritt Professor of Neurology at Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons, and Scientific Director of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, comments on the report from the UK concerning increased mortality in patients taking Eldepryl and Sinemet: We have read the report from the UK regarding the finding of increased mortality in patients treated with L-dopa plus deprenyl compared to those placed just on L-dopa (without deprenyl>. This increase in mortality occurred 3 to 5 years after starting that study. The UK report should be considered preliminary, for there are many unanswered questions, including: 1> How many patients continued on deprenyl once placed on it? 2> How many patients originally assigned to the non-deprenyl group were eventually placed on it? In other words, there was no information in the paper on compliance with treatment assignments. 3> A lot of the patients were lost to follow-up so the data are incomplete, and 4> no information was given as to the causes of death. The UK investigators did not report what they are recommending to patients under their care. The only advice in their paper is to have patients talk to their own doctors. This is sound advice on every drug, not just deprenyl. Here is our view: Because the report is preliminary, we are not yet convinced that taking deprenyl acctually leads to increased death ater 3 to 5 years. Nevertheless, we take the report seriously and divide out recommendations into two categories. 1. For our patients taking deprenyl along with L-dopa (usually in the form of Sinemet, we recommend that if deprenyl is helping to control the symptoms of parkinsonism, it should be continued. If it is not helping, then it should be discontinued. If one doesn't know if it is helping or not, one can test this by stopping the drug and seeing if it makes any difference. 2. For our patients on deprenyl without concomitant L-dopa, there is no indication that deprenyl should be discontinued. If you wish to discuss this further, call Dinah at the PDF> 89/457-6676. Dinah, Parkinson's Disease Foundation, Columbia-Presbyteria