Cardiac valvulopathy associated with pergolide use

Objective — To review the risk of pergolide associated cardiac valvulopathy in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Data Sources — MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library. Reference lists were reviewed and librarians were consulted to identify additional trials.

Study Selection — All studies and case reports in the English literature on pergolide and cardiac valvulopathy.

Data Extraction — Demographics of patients, study duration, dose and duration of pergolide use, echocardiogram results, length of follow-up, and clinical outcome.

Results — Twenty-two published articles were identified. There were no randomized controlled trials. Follow-up time varied between a few months and four years. Three case reports and four studies (three case control and one observational) assessed 246 patients. Evidence for valvulopathy was found in all studies. Variable methods were used to assess the degree of valvular regurgitation making comparisons between studies difficult. Little clinical correlation is available for echocardiogram results. Variable improvement was shown in the few patients in whom the drug was stopped. There is insufficient data to determine whether dose and duration or other comorbities have an effect on the risk of developing cardiac valvulopathy.

Conclusion — Pergolide therapy is associated with an increased risk of developing cardiac valvulopathy but the true incidence and importance of this remains unknown. Further prospective studies are needed with standardized assessments of echocardiograms.