Perda de cabelo
De : Emilio

Para : marcilio , luciano
Assunto : Parkinson's drug linked to hair loss in women
Data : Tue, 12 Mar 2002 13:58:53 -0300
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2002/03/11/eline/links/20020311elin005.html
Parkinson's drug linked to hair loss in women

NEW YORK, Mar 11 (Reuters Health) - Hair loss caused by a drug for
treating Parkinson's disease may be reversed by switching to a different
medication, a new report demonstrates.

Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological disorder that causes
tremor, muscle rigidity and movement problems. Drugs to restore
diminishing levels of the brain chemical dopamine are the main treatment
for the condition.

Reversible hair loss has been documented in patients treated with
bromocriptine, pergolide or levodopa, but not in association with other
dopamine-related drugs, according to Drs. Rowena E. Tabamo and
Alessandro Di Rocco of the Beth Israel Medical Center-Albert Einstein
College of Medicine in New York City.

In the March issue of the journal Neurology, the researchers describe the
cases of two female Parkinson's disease patients who experienced hair
loss soon after starting treatment with the drug pramipexole.

One 66-year-old woman noted hair loss less than 2 months after she
began taking pramipexole. After other possible causes for her hair loss
were ruled out, the woman stopped taking the drug, and her hair loss
stopped within 2 weeks. One month later, new hair growth returned.

The second patient, aged 68, began losing her hair about one month after
receiving an increased dosage of pramipexole, which she had been taking
for about a year. Doctors then switched her medication to ropinirole. The
hair loss continued, so her medication was switched again to a
combination of carbidopa and levodopa. Within one week her hair loss
stopped and within 6 months some of her hair grew back, the authors
report.

"Although the use of pramipexole was associated with (hair loss) in both
patients, the effect of ropinirole on hair loss or growth is less clear,"
Tabamo and Di Rocco write.

The investigators note that both women were taking the drug amantadine,
and that their hair loss could be a result of this drug's interaction with the
Parkinson's drugs.

"For some patients, hair loss is unacceptable and detracts substantially
from their quality of life," Di Rocco explained in a prepared statement
from the journal. "In one case, the patient was distraught and refused to
leave her house without wearing a hat," he added.

"If treating physicians can help patients deal with (hair loss) and other
cosmetic symptoms resulting from therapy, without compromising the
quality of their treatment, we can do a lot toward helping them maintain a
high quality of life throughout their illness," according to Di Rocco.

SOURCE: Neurology 2002;58:829-830.