Rotigotine may control drooling in patients with Parkinson's Disease: Preliminary findings

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of rotigotine in controlling the drooling of Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients. Patients and methods We assessed 7 PD patients (Hoehn and Yahr scale >2.5) with three different clinical scores (Drooling Severity and Frequency Scale − DSFS, Drooling Rating Scale – DRS and Sialorrhea Clinical Scale for PD – SCS) before and after 4 weeks of therapy. Statistical differences were analyzed with Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results We observed that rotigotine significantly improves drooling as measured by the lowering of the three scores (p < 0.05). Conclusions Among non-motor symptoms of PD, drooling is one of the most embarrassing and disabling for patients. Current treatments are unsatisfactory and novel approaches are thus desirable. In this open-label pilot study we demonstrated on a small sample of patients that up to 4 mg/24 h of rotigotine, a non-ergolinic dopamine agonist with continuous transdermal delivery, may be helpful in the management of drooling in advanced PD.