Motor Complications in Parkinson’s Disease: A Comprehensive Review of Emergent Management Strategies

Motor complications (dyskinesias and motor fluctuations) are a common and disabling problem of dopaminergic therapy in Parkinson’s disease, which are often difficult to treat with the current therapeutic strategies. It has been proposed that continuous dopaminergic delivery could reduce the emergence of motor complications, which has been tried with levodopa intestinal infusion or subcutaneous apomorphine infusion. In selected refractory cases, surgical approaches such as deep brain stimulation should be considered. Ongoing clinical and preclinical research tried to lead the field into the discovery of other therapeutic targets and strategies that might prevent or reduce motor complications. These include drugs targeting non-dopaminergic systems (e.g. glutamatergic, serotonergic, noradrenergic, adenosinergic and cholinergic systems), gene therapy for delivering neurotrophic factors or critical enzymes for dopamine synthesis, and cell therapy. These studies found variable results, some of them promising, with the possibility of new therapeutic armamentarium in the management of Parkinson’s disease in the near future.