A few dozen kilometers from Gela, at the Gravina hospital in Caltagirone, a new type of treatment for Parkinson’s disease began a couple of days ago which the Sicily Region authorized just a few days ago.
A story that has ties to Gela not only because one of the two patients being treated, a 75-year-old man, is from Gela but also because he has lived in Gela for 10 years, Dr. Alessandro Pulvirenti director of the Neurology Stroke unit of the Caltagirone hospital who is experimenting with the new method.
He is the son-in-law of Dr. Gianni Incardona. Dr. also works in the same division as neurologist manager and head of the headache center. Simonetta Incardona.
The two doctors who partner in life have the opportunity to work in a sector that Gela, a city of 70 thousand inhabitants, can only dream of. Not far from Gela, you can receive innovative treatments, in Gela Neurology exists one day, then it is canceled and so on.
But returning to the innovative treatment against Parkinson’s, the news is that at the Gravina di Caltagirone there were the first two patients treated with Levodopa by subcutaneous infusion. In the Neurology department, led by Alessandro Pulvirenti, a 75-year-old patient and a 77-year-old patient with Parkinson’s disease underwent the new therapy, authorized just a few days ago by the regional Health Department. Levodopa is universally considered the gold standard for Parkinson’s therapy, but fluctuations in plasma concentrations of the drug with oral therapy are often associated with unsatisfactory control of motor symptoms and the development of involuntary movements. Furthermore, until a few months ago, its administration, as well as orally – in the form of capsules or tablets – was only possible by carrying out a percutaneous endoscopic gastrotomy, particularly in the advanced stages of the disease.
With this new treatment option, via subcutaneous infusion, minimally invasive and better tolerated by patients, it is possible to both control the plasma concentration of the drug and guarantee stable management of symptoms.
The new therapy is indicated, above all, in the intermediate-advanced phase of Parkinson’s disease. To ensure the success of subcutaneous Levodopa treatment, eligible patients are carefully selected by the reference centers. The Caltagirone hospital is among the first in Sicily to introduce this new method. Time will tell if this method can improve the lives of patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
