title: Efficacy of oral physostigmine in primary degenerative dementia. A double-blind study of response to different dose level.
abstract: To examine the efficacy of cholinergic enhancement in senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT), oral physostigmine was given to eight patients in a cross-over trial of three dose levels and a matching placebo. A dose-related improvement in memory as measured by objective verbal memory tests was observed. Performance was significantly better on the highest dose, 2 mg every 2 h, than on the lower doses. The effect was most systematically present for very short-term memory, which raises the question of whether the improvement may involve attention rather than longer term storage and retrieval.
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000187:drug effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D010830:Physostigmine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011897:Random Allocation
chemical_list: D010830:Physostigmine