Iatrogenic Parkinsonism: The Role of Flunarizine and Cinnarizine

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Miguel, Rita | Correia, Ana Sofia Aleixo^; | Bugalho, Paulo^;

Affiliations: Neurology Department, Hospital Egas Moniz (Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Ocidental), Lisboa, Portugal | CEDOC, Chronic Diseases Research Center, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

Note: [] Correspondence to: Rita Miguel, MD, Neurologia, Hospital Egas Moniz (Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Ocidental), Rua da Junqueira, 126, 1349-019 Lisboa, Portugal. Tel.: +351 210432179; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: We performed a clinical report based, descriptive and retrospective study, aimed at comparing Flunarizine/Cinnarizine-induced parkinsonism (FCIP) patients and Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. The FCIP group (n = 30) presented a lower frequency of rigidity and unilateral tremor than the PD group (n = 70). All FCIP patients improved, 13 after dopaminergic treatment. FCIP patients who improved spontaneously presented lower frequency of rigidity, compared with the other FCIP subgroup and PD group. FCIP patients who did not improve spontaneously showed a clinical pattern similar to PD patients.

Keywords: Calcium channel blockers, cinnarizine, drug-induced parkinsonism, flunarizine, nigrostriatal pathway, Parkinson's disease

DOI: 10.3233/JPD-140414

Journal: Journal of Parkinson's Disease, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 645-649, 2014