Dr. Walther Birkmayer, a neurologist in Austria whose early work with Parkinson's disease helped lead to the standard treatment for the disorder, died on Dec. 10 in Vienna. He was 86.
Parkinson's disease is caused by degeneration of the brain cells that produce dopamine, which is important in controlling muscle movements. There is no cure.
Dr. Birkmayer is one of several researchers credited with pioneering the use of the drug levadopa, or L-dopa, in treating the disease, said Dr. Stanley Fahn, a professor at Columbia University and the scientific director of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation in New York.
In 1960, Dr. Fahn said, a Viennese pharmacologist, Dr. Oleh Hor nykiewicz, demonstrated that dopamine levels were below normal in the brains of people who died of Parkinson's. He and a Swedish researcher, Dr. Arvid Carlsson, believed that L-dopa, a precursor in the synthesis of dopamine, could treat the disease.
Dr. Hornykiewicz and Dr. Birkmayer began to treat patients with L-dopa. They noticed marked short-term improvements and published their findings in 1961. But L-dopa causes nausea and vomiting, so its use was limited as researchers worked to overcome L-dopa's side effects, Dr. Fahn said.
Other researchers then found that by slowly increasing the dosage of L-dopa to allow patients to adjust, a high dose could be given that effectively treated symptoms of the disease.
Dr. Birkmayer's professional accomplishments were clouded by his Nazi past, particularly the revelation that he served as a second lieutenant in the SS from September 1938 until his forced resignation in December 1939 because he could not document the Aryan nature of his family tree, as the organization required. He then served as a doctor in the regular army.
Born on May 15, 1910, in Vienna, Dr. Birkmayer received his medical degree in 1936 at the University of Vienna and continued his studies until he joined the German military. After recovering from wounds received in 1942 in Russia, he was the chief physician at a brain-injury hospital in Vienna until the end of the war.
Dr. Birkmayer then continued to treat patients with brain injuries and neurological disorders and wrote extensively. In the 1960's he shifted his emphasis to the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
He is survived by a son, Georg Birkmayer, of Vienna.