Bromocriptine Therapy in Early-Stage Parkinson’s Disease

We evaluated bromocriptine monotherapy during the early stage of Parkinson’s disease (Hoehn and Yahr stage I or II). Of the 120 patients registered as participants in this trial, 96 were studied. The follow-up period was 48 weeks. For the first 24 weeks they were all placed on bromocriptine with or without anticholinergic drugs; for the second 24 weeks, 75 of them were still kept on the same medication, with 21 requiring additional levodopa. Clinically, the former group showed a good response to the bromocriptine monotherapy, while the latter responded poorly to it (requiring in addition levodopa). We think that Parkinson’s disease encompasses a heterogeneous group of patients of whom about 75% are well treated by bromocriptine alone at the early stages of the illness.