Permax and Dostinex Side Effects

Drugs Cause Heart Valve Damage Similar to Fen-phen

Patients who take Permax or Dostinex are four to seven times more likely to suffer damage to their heart valves than patients who did not take either of these medications. The January 4, 2007 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) contains articles about two case studies that provide some of the strongest evidence that treatment with the Parkinson's disease drugs Permax (pergolide) and Dostinex (cabergoline) can cause cardiac-valve dysfunction.

A January 3, 2007 Reuters article discussed how higher doses of Permax and Dostinex caused an even higher rate of heart-valve damage in patients:

The British study showed patients taking Permax were 7.1 times more likely to develop heart valve damage than those who took other treatments. Patients taking the highest doses of the drug had a 37 times greater risk.

The study showed patients taking Dostinex were 4.9 times more likely to develop heart valve damage. At higher doses patients were 50.3 times more likely to suffer damage.

Bryan L. Roth, a University of North Carolina psychiatrist, said the fresh research marked the largest and most definitive findings of the heart risks of these drugs. Dr. Roth, who is also director of the National Institute of Mental Health's drug-screening program, said the findings should lead doctors to discontinue using the drugs and to tell patients to get echocardiograms to make sure they don't have damage.

"The incidence is kind of mind-blowing," said Dr. Roth, who wrote an article in the journal accompanying the studies. "It's so prevalent in people taking these medications, you kind of wonder why it was missed."

Permax and Dostinex are classified as ergot-derived dopamine receptor agonists, and are used to treat Parkinson's Disease, restless leg syndrome, and migraine headaches. The heart valve damage found to be caused by Permax and Dostinex is similar to that caused by Fen-phen, which was taken off the market.