Levodopa therapy and the risk of malignant melanoma

Levodopa therapy and the risk of malignant melanoma

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use of levodopa therapy in patients with Parkinson's disease and malignant melanoma. DATA SOURCES: A MEDLINE search (January 1966–September 1999) of English-language articles was conducted. Key search terms included levodopa, melanoma, and Parkinson's disease; 34...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Annals of pharmacotherapy Vol. 34; no. 3; pp. 382 - 385
Main Authors: Siple, JF, Schneider, DC, Wanlass, WA, Rosenblatt, BK
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cincinnati, OH Harvey Whitney Books 01-03-2000
SAGE Publications
Whitney
Subjects:
Antiparkinson Agents - adverse effects
Antiparkinson Agents - therapeutic use
Biological and medical sciences
Drug toxicity and drugs side effects treatment
Humans
Levodopa - adverse effects
Levodopa - therapeutic use
Medical sciences
Melanoma - chemically induced
Melanoma - epidemiology
Parkinson Disease - complications
Parkinson Disease - etiology
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Toxicity: skin, dermoskeleton
levodopa
melanoma
Human
Nervous system diseases
Toxicity
Parkinson disease
Malignant tumor
Review
Antiparkinson agent
Cerebral disorder
Chemotherapy
Treatment
Central nervous system disease
Malignant melanoma
Degenerative disease
Levodopa
Extrapyramidal syndrome
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use of levodopa therapy in patients with Parkinson's disease and malignant melanoma. DATA SOURCES: A MEDLINE search (January 1966–September 1999) of English-language articles was conducted. Key search terms included levodopa, melanoma, and Parkinson's disease; 34 case reports were identified. DATA SYNTHESIS: Carbidopa/levodopa continues to be a mainstay in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Since the late 1970s, a warning has appeared in the prescribing literature for levodopa regarding the risk of activating malignant melanoma. An evaluation was conducted of the case reports in which a causal relationship between levodopa and melanoma was suggested. CONCLUSIONS: There is an unlikely association between levodopa and induction or exacerbation of malignant melanoma.
ISSN:1060-0280
1542-6270
DOI:10.1345/aph.19150