A Study for Expanding Application Sites for Rotigotine Transdermal Patch

Hitoshi Kujirai; Sakiko Itaya; Yumi Ono; Makoto Takahashi; Akira Inaba; Yasushi Shimo; Nobutaka Hattori; Satoshi Orimo

doi:10.1155/2020/5892163

A Study for Expanding Application Sites for Rotigotine Transdermal Patch

Parkinsons Dis. 2020 Aug 10:2020:5892163. doi: 10.1155/2020/5892163. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Hitoshi Kujirai^{1

2}, Sakiko Itaya¹, Yumi Ono³, Makoto Takahashi¹, Akira Inaba¹, Yasushi Shimo², Nobutaka Hattori², Satoshi Orimo¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Kanto Central Hospital, Tokyo 158-8531, Japan.
² Department of Neurology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan.
³ School of Computing, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Kanagawa 226-8503, Japan.

Abstract

The rotigotine transdermal patch (RTP) is a dopamine agonist used to treat Parkinson's disease (PD). Some PD patients cannot continue RTP treatment due to application site reactions. We explored sites for RTP where application site reactions are less severe than those in the six approved application sites. Thirty PD patients (12 men, mean age = 76 years) who underwent RTP at the approved sites and had some application site reactions were enrolled in this study. When applying the RTP to the approved application sites for more than four weeks (pre-RTP) and then on the shin for the following four weeks (post-RTP), skin reactions, itching evaluated using the skin irritation score, motor symptoms, clinical global impressions scale, and plasma rotigotine concentration were examined. The mean visual analogue scale and skin irritation score in the post-RTP group were significantly lower than those in the pre-RTP group. The mean Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part III score in the post-RTP group was slightly but significantly lower than that in the pre-RTP group. Plasma rotigotine concentration in the post-RTP group was slightly but significantly lower than that in the pre-RTP group. These results indicate that the shin can be a useful application site for RTP.