Reactions 764 - 14 Aug 1999

★Ropinirole

First report of penile erections: case reportA 49-year-old man reported an increased number of penile

erections associated with the use of ropinirole for Parkinson’sdisease. He had not experienced sexual dysfunctionpreviously.

The patient was treated with ropinirole 3mg 3 times daily.He began to experience erections 20–30 minutes after eachdose of this agent. These erections, which lasted for 10–15minutes and were associated with a persistent scrotal ache,caused him considerable physical and emotional discomfort.He had not experienced sexual dysfunction previously.

The dosage of ropinirole was slowly decreased and at adosage of 1mg 3 times daily, the frequency of the patient’sropinirole-induced erections reduced. The erections occurredonly occasionally when he received ropinirole 0.5mg 3 timesdaily and stopped completely once ropinirole wasdiscontinued. The man’s scrotal pain resolved completely afew days after ropinirole was stopped.

Author comment: ‘To our knowledge, erections inducedregularly in response to individual doses of commonly used oraldopamine agonists have not been reported. We want to drawattention to this side effect seen with the administration ofropinirole, one of the newer dopamine agonists used in thetreatment of PD [Parkinson’s disease].’Fine J, et al. Dose-induced penile erections in response to ropinirole therapy forParkinson’s disease. Movement Disorders 14: 701-702, Jul 1999 -Canada 800785449

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Reactions 14 Aug 1999 No. 7640114-9954/10/0764-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved