[Memantine can relieve certain symptoms in Parkinson disease. Improvement achieved in two out of three described cases with dyskinesia and cognitive failure].
Parkinson's disease is a chronic, progressive, neurodegenerative disease with a reduction of dopamine levels causing the typical symptoms tremor, hypokinesia, rigidity, and postural disturbance. After some years with Parkinson's disease patients tend to develop fluctuating symptoms and dyskinesia with involuntary movements--a state difficult to manage. Different pharmacological as well as non-pharmacological strategies are used and being tried. One of these is targeting the dysfunctioning glutamatergic neurotransmitter system through the NMDA-receptors. The NMDA-receptor antagonist amantadine has long been used as an anti-Parkinson drug but also as an anti-dyskinetic drug. Recently, another NMDA-receptor antagonist, memantine, was approved for moderate to severe Alzheimer's dementia in Sweden. We describe the use of memantine on three cognitively impaired, dyskinetic Parkinsonian patients where two seemed to benefit from this medication regarding their dyskinesia.
Lökk
Johan
J
Neurotec-institutionen och geriatriska kliniken, Karolinska institutet, Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset Huddinge. johan.lokk@kus.se
D000368:Aged; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015259:Dopamine Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020820:Dyskinesias / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008559:Memantine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D015259:Dopamine Agents; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D008559:Memantine