Parkinson's Disease and the Effectiveness of its Treatment

Parkinson’s Disease
Student’s Name
University
Professor
Course
Date
Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is considered a neuro-degenerative illness that damages the brain as well as the Central Nervous System, leading to walking, balance, and coordination difficulties. These symptoms start slowly but gradually progress over time and eventually lead to loss of mobility and speech. Vast research has been carried out on the causes, symptoms, and risk factors of the disease, uncovering various discoveries about the matter. However, scientists and medical researchers have been unable to find the cure for Parkinson’s, although they have recommended some medical treatments, surgical procedures, and therapies to help relieve the individual symptoms.
The trusted therapy utilized in the treatment of the disease is levodopa, also referred to as L-dopa. As the main cause of Parkinson’s is the reduced supply of dopamine in the brain, caused by the impairment of nerve endings, levodopa serves to replenish its supply in the brain cells. Levodopa is commonly used alongside another drug, carbidopa, whose main purpose is to reduce the side effects of levodopa, such as nausea, low blood pressure, and restlessness.
A study conducted in 2017 (De Fabregues et al.,2017) sought to investigate the overall effectiveness of Levodopa-Carbidopa Intestinal Gel (LCIG) infusion as a method of increasing motor functioning in patients who suffered advanced Parkinson’s disease. The analysis was performed by a prospective, long-term, observational study on thirty-seven victims who had advanced Parkinson’s disease and who at the time were all undergoing rapidly failing motor coordination. De Fabregues et al. (2017) then subjected the patients to LCIG infusion. They observed its safety and effectiveness based on three distinct subsets: cognitive assessment as well as behavioral tests for half a year, intensity and comfort of sleep for half a year, and quality of life, and the strain on the caregiver for one year. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS, with 5% value of p considered statistically significant. The conclusion from the t-tests, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and McNemar-Bowker tests revealed that the LCIG infusion is a justified and effective treatment option for controlling motor-related changes, and the study supported the continued usage and application of LCIG as a routine treatment for motor-related complications. All patients, according to the study (De Fabregues et al., 2017), greatly improved their voluntary motor control, fluency, and attentional functions, but the quality of sleep was not in any way found to be ameliorated by the LCIG infusion. While the study was completed over a long-term period of ten years, the results were not statistically significant to represent the whole population. The sample size chosen was statistically significant and less than 10 percent of the total population. De Fabregues et al. (2017) used a sample size of 37, which is barely enough to base an opinion on the effectiveness of the treatment of motor side effects of Parkinson’s disease. The elimination of the patients was also not randomized enough, which increases the possibility of bias for their findings. Additionally, the selection method was not randomized, which increases the possibility of bias in their findings. While the credibility of the results cannot be disputed, the significance based on the sampling and patient selection is in question.
A similar study was conducted by Valldeoriola et al. (2016), the only difference being the increased number of sampled patients for analysis and the fact that this study was performed retrospectively in relation to the study by De Fabregues et al. The study incorporated 177 Spanish patients who were suffering from advanced Parkinson’s disease, a...