Levodopa responsiveness of dysphagia in advanced Parkinson's disease and reliability testing of the FEES-Levodopa-test

Background It is still controversially discussed whether central dopaminergic stimulation improves swallowing ability in Parkinson's disease (PD). We evaluated the effect of oral levodopa application on dysphagia in advanced PD patients with motor fluctuations. Methods In 15 PD patients (mean age 71.93 ± 8.29 years, mean disease duration 14.33 ± 5.94 years) with oropharyngeal dysphagia and motor fluctuations endoscopic swallowing evaluation was...