Amantadine and levodopa in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

In a previous study, we10 addressed ourselves to the question of whether amantadine was effective in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. By qualitative and quantitative criteria, amantadine ( Symmetrel) was found to be a safe and effective agent, with specific improvement occurring in tests involving gait, coordination, strength, and more complex activities of daily living. We here report a comparison of levodopa, amantadine, and the combination of the two in the therapy of parkinsonism, using the same battery of subjective and objective tests of neurologic and neuropsychological function as in the previous study10 and incorporating an additional battery of tracking tests designed to measure more complex coordinated movements. Supported by the E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., Inc., the K. H. Campbell Foundation, and an equipment grant from the University of Michigan Institute of Science and Technology. Received for publication Sept. 24, 1971. Accepted for publication Oct. 25, 1971. Reprint requests to: Dr. Walker, Division of Neurology. University of Colorado Medical Center, Denver Colo. 80220.