World Parkinson Disease Day Awareness evevent held at Bangalore, in association with Keep Moving foundation, under the aegis of Movement Disorders Society of India. Street plays and Song courtsey – VASP Theatres, Bangalore
Finally, the Apomorphine pumps are available in Indian market. The first instillation of the Apomorphine pump happened in India at Vikram Hospitals, Bangalore on 15th May 2019. This young patient had been affected with Parkinson’s disease for almost 10 years now with currently medication alone working for about 45mins to one hour. With Apomorphine it is expected to significantly even out the motor fluctuations (On and OFF phenomenons) in the patients.
To recaptuate, Apomorphine is a medication used to manage the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. It is a strong dopamine agonist (Medications which act to stimulate nerve cells to release more dopamine). This leads to improvement of body functions in patients with Parkinson’s disease, who have low dopamine levels. Despite its name, apomorphine does not contain morphine. Unlike other dopamine agonist drugs (like Pramipexole, Ropinirole), which are taken as tablets or patches, apomorphine is given by injection or continuous infusion, using a pump. Apomorphine doesn’t help everyone manage their Parkinson’s symptoms, and it may not replace oral medication entirely. It usually suggested for patients who have: 1. Oral medications taking long time to act, 2. Have sudden and unpredictable changes in symptoms, 3. Severe OFF periods, 4. Cannot be considered for surgery for other medical issues / Patient not willing for surgery, 5. Patients who cannot take medications orally
It is expected that over next year, the medications should be available across the Indian market, with many from medical community getting trained for the same.
Long awaited launch of Apomorphine has finally ended. Apomorphine, is expected to provide quick and effective relief to patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease, thereby improving their quality of life.
Currently, patients suffering from Parkinson’s can either opt for oral treatment in the early stages of the disease or choose the more expensive option of deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery which involves stimulating the brain by placing electrodes through small holes inside the skull, in the advanced stages. However, with the launch of Apomorphine, in the form of injections and infusion pumps, patients will be able opt for oral medication with proven efficacy, at a reasonable cost.
In the case of Parkinson’s patients, the supply of dopamine gets depleted. To keep it under check, the Continuous Dopaminergic Therapy by Apomorphine injections/infusions, which supplies dopamine to the body on a regular and consistent basis thereby negating the fluctuations associated with medications, will be made available.
As a live TV audience watches, a neurosurgery team at UH Case Medical Center in Cleveland will perform an operation that has helped many Parkinson’s disease patients get significant relief from their debilitating symptoms—tremors, rigidity, stiffness, slowed movements and difficulty walking—and also enabled them to reduce their amount of medication.
Deep Brain Stimulation, or DBS, was pioneered as a Parkinson’s treatment by Dr. Alim-Louis Benabid, a neurosurgeon who also possessed a Ph.D. in physics. In the 1980s, patients were treated by surgically destroying parts of their brains where tremors originated, or using medication with unpleasant side-effects. In 1987, Benabid was performing a surgery using the then-standard method of burning away brain tissue with an electrode. As he tested various regions with electrical pulses, Benabid wondered what would happen if he used different frequencies. To his surprise, he found one that suppressed the patient’s tremor. “I thought, aha, this might be the solution,” he later recalled in a 2010 Lancet article.
