Csoti I, Koleva-Alazeh N. Benserazide-induced diarrhea - A retrospective clinical study.
Clin Park Relat Disord 2020;
4:100087. [PMID:
34316665 PMCID:
PMC8299959 DOI:
10.1016/j.prdoa.2020.100087]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Revised: 11/08/2020] [Accepted: 12/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
A largely unknown and unrecognized side effect of L-DOPA/benserazide is severe diarrhea in rare cases, which can lead to physicians initiating misguided and drug treatments or patients discontinuing their L-DOPA medication altogether.
A simple change to L-DOPA/carbidopa has proven to be an effective solution in virtually all cases of benserazide-induced diarrhea, usually leading to full remission within days.
A cohort of 50 patients is examined in search for a possible biochemical basis for benserazide intolerance.
Background
Although diarrhea has been reported as a side effect of L-3,4- dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA)/benserazide, it is largely unknown and unrecognized, presumably because it is very rare. There is almost no literature on benserazide-induced diarrhea (BID), no pharmacological explanation and, crucially, no treatment recommendation. This can lead to physicians misdiagnosing BID, for example as colitis, and initiating misguided and ultimately ineffective drug treatments. Or it can lead to erroneous assumptions about a general intolerance and subsequent discontinuation of L-DOPA medication – for lack of a better solution – at the high price of living with the recurring symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Thus, our study aims to fill these gaps, beginning with a treatment recommendation: A simple switch to LDOPA/ carbidopa has proven to be an effective solution in virtually all cases of BID, usually leading to full remission within days. Finding a possible pharmacological explanation was the next objective of this study.
Methods
We retrospectively analyzed 50 case files of patients with BID, searching for patterns that could potentially explain this intolerance.
Results
The most frequent concomitant disease was hypertension, likely due to high average age. Beta-blockers and acetylsalicylic acid were the most frequent concomitant medications. Otherwise, no conspicuous pattern emerged in this seemingly rather heterogeneous sample.
Conclusions
Plasma protein binding (PPB) was suspected as a key difference between benserazide and carbidopa that might potentially explain why some patients can tolerate carbidopa but not benserazide. However, reports on PPB of carbidopa and benserazide vary wildly from one source to another, making definitive conclusions impossible.
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