P.059 Management of motor symptoms for patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease without safe oral access: a scoping review

Abstract

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. Oral medications for control of motor symptoms are the mainstay of treatment however, as the disease progresses, patients with PD may develop dysphagia or other medical illnesses that prohibit them from safely taking oral medications. Currently there are no clinical guidelines for managing distressing motor symptoms in patients with PD and severe dysphagia, which can therefore be quite challenging. Methods: A scoping review using MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, CINAHL, AgeLine and Psyc INFO databases (1946-2021) was conducted. Articles examining PD with dysphagia in palliative care or at end-of-life were included. Studies that included patients who were also on oral PD medications or received device-aided therapy were excluded. Results: Of 3836 articles screened for title and abstract, 274 were selected for full text review, and 20 articles were finally selected for data extraction. These included five case reports, one retrospective cohort study, one book chapter and 13 narrative reviews. Conclusions: There are very few articles addressing the issue of treatment of patients with advanced PD who are unable to take oral medications. Although rotigotine patch and apormorphine injections are most frequently recommended, there are no clinical trials in this patient population to support those recommendations.