Atomoxetine for freezing of gait in Parkinson disease.

Freezing of gait (FoG) is one of the most troublesome symptoms associated with Parkinson disease (PD). This symptom usually does not respond to dopaminergic therapy, possibly because it is mediated via noradrenergic, rather than dopaminergic, deficiency. As atomoxetine enhances noradrenergic transmission we postulated that it may be effective in the treatment of FoG and enrolled 5 PD patients who had this gait abnormality, both when "on" or "off" levodopa, into a double-blind, randomized trial. Although an improvement in total Gait and Balance Scale (GABS) score was noted in patients treated with atomoxetine as compared to placebo, this did not reach statistical significance, possibly because of a small sample size. Further studies in a larger population of patients with FoG are needed to determine whether atomoxetine is a useful drug in the treatment of this, often disabling, feature of PD.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes