After 40 years of clinical experience, levodopa remains the gold standard treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD) despite the recent emergence of a host of new therapies. Some physicians are cautious when prescribing levodopa because of its association with motor complications. Evidence now suggests that levodopa-associated complications are a result of deep troughs in delivery of levodopa to th...

Parkinson's disease is characterized by the progression of the disease from the early stages where it still has little functional consequence for afflicted patients, to an advanced stage disease with large consequences in terms of function, quality of life and individual and societal costs. Motor fluctuations and symptoms of levodopa overdosage may occur in parallel with increasing Parkinsonian...