Contingent negative variation and reaction time in patients with presenile idiopathic cognitive decline and presenile Alzheimer-type dementia. Preliminary report on long-term nicergoline treatment.
Up to date 6 patients with initial presenile idiopathic cognitive decline (PICD) and 5 suffering from a presenile Alzheimer-type dementia (PAD) with a mean age of 59.5 were admitted to the trial. The 6 PICD patients were assigned to a double-blind nicergoline/placebo 6-month course with an oral dose of 30 mg twice a day. PAD patients were treated in an open design (nicergoline oral dose 30 mg twice a day) for at least 6 months. Until now only 4 PICD and 3 PAD patients have been treated regularly for 6 months. Two of 4 PICD patients showed a progressive enhancement of contingent negative variation (CNV), shorter reaction time (RT) and an improvement of clinical status. The other 2 PICD patients, on the contrary, showed a progressive mild worsening of CNV-RT and clinical patterns. The double-blind trial is not yet completed. CNV activity, RTs and clinical patterns progressively improved also in 2 PAD patients while in the 3rd they remained nearly unchanged or minimally worse during the 6-month treatment. The positive nicergoline effect on CNV-RT and clinical status noted in our patients appeared similar to that observed by other authors with DHEMT in patients with senile dementia of Alzheimer type. No adverse drug-related reactions were seen.
Zappoli
R
R
Second Neurological Institute, University of Florence, Italy.
Arnetoli
G
G
Paganini
M
M
Versari
A
A
Battaglia
A
A
Grignani
A
A
Sacchetti
G
G
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003265:Contingent Negative Variation; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004594:Electrophysiology; D004873:Ergolines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009530:Nicergoline / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*
D004873:Ergolines; D009530:Nicergoline