Rimantadine in Parkinson's disease patients experiencing peripheral adverse effects from amantadine: Report of a case series

We report our experience with 7 consecutive patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) who received rimantadine (the α‐methyl derivative of amantadine) in substitution of amantadine due to peripheral side effects (lower limb edema, livedo reticularis). Mean age was 67.3 ± 5.9 years, the mean disease duration was 13 ± 6.3 years, and mean Hoehn and Yahr stage was 2.2 ± 0.4. A total of 3 patients experienced marked improvement of edema, and 1 patient experienced marked improvement of livedo reticularis. Only 1 of the 7 patients reported significant loss of motor benefit when amantadine was replaced with rimantadine. Our results demonstrate that rimantadine may be considered as an alternative to amantadine in patients experiencing amantadine‐induced peripheral side effects. © 2005 Movement Disorder Society