Highlights
- •Gait related disability is the most troublesome feature of Parkinson's disease(PD) and effective treatment options are lacking.
- •We aimed to determine if Dalfampridine (D-ER)-has a beneficial effect on walking in patients with PD.
- •22 patients with PD and gait dysfunction were randomized to receive D-ER 10 mg twice daily or placebo for 4 weeks in a crossover fashion.
- •Dalfampridine was in general well tolerated with no serious adverse events reported.
- •There was no difference in the velocity in the D-ER group (0.89 m/s +/- 0.33) when compared with placebo (0.93 m/s +/- 0.27) after 4 weeks of treatment.
Abstract
Background
Disease-related gait dysfunction causes extensive disability for persons with Parkinson's
disease (PD), with no effective therapies currently available. The potassium channel
blocker dalfampridine has been used in multiple neurological conditions and improves
walking in persons with multiple sclerosis.
Objectives
We aimed to evaluate the effect of dalfampridine extended release (D-ER) 10 mg tablets twice daily on different domains of walking in participants with PD.
Methods
Twenty-two participants with PD and gait dysfunction were randomized to receive D-ER
10 mg twice daily or placebo for 4 weeks in a crossover design with a 2-week washout period. The primary outcomes were
change in the gait velocity and stride length.
Results
At 4 weeks, gait velocity was not significantly different between D-ER (0.89 m/s ± 0.33) and placebo (0.93 m/s ± 0.27) conditions. The stride length was also similar between conditions: 0.96 m ± 0.38 for D-ER versus 1.06 m ± 0.33 for placebo. D-ER was generally well tolerated with the most frequent side effects
being dizziness, nausea and balance problems.
Conclusions
D-ER is well tolerated in PD patients, however it did not show significant benefit
for gait impairment.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 06, 2017
Accepted:
May 5,
2017
Received in revised form:
April 20,
2017
Received:
January 31,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
