Stuart Isaacson, MD: The Challenge of OFF Episodes in Parkinson Disease

“OFF periods are one of the biggest problems our patients continue to face, regardless of what type of levodopa is being administered. At some point, its effects are going to wane.”

In Parkinson disease treatment, physicians are fortunate to have a gold standard medication in levodopa. Although, despite its efficacy and availability, patients still face periods of OFF time during which their medications lose efficacy, with absorption varying due to a number of influencing factors.

In fact, Stuart Isaacson, MD, director, Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center of Boca Raton, explained that this challenge of absorption can vary not only from patient to patient but for each individual themselves. Factors such as food consumption, gastrointestinal differences, and others can impact how quickly levodopa is absorbed and at what rate.

To find out more about how this challenge is being addressed with combination therapy approaches and what treatments and delivery methods are available to combat absorption variation, NeurologyLive sat down with Isaacson. He discussed how the current understanding of the disease and its medications is impacting physicians’ ability to reduce their patients’ OFF episodes.