[Adverse effects of dopamine agonists].

Application of dopamine agonists in the therapy of Parkinson's disease constitutes significant progress. The adverse effects of dopamine agonists in the treatment of this disease are caused by various action mechanisms and depend upon the composition and pharmacological characteristics of the drug, its impact upon the dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic receptors, as well as dosage and duration of treatment. The most important ones include: nausea and vomiting, orthostatic hypotonia, psychiatric syndromes, sleep disturbances, pleuropulmonary and retroperitoneal fibrosis, vasoconstrictive properties, oedema, hormonal disturbances, as well as dyskinesias. Knowledge of such adverse effects is necessary for each physician, although in Poland dopamine agonists are used in a minority of patients due to the significant costs of the treatment.