title: Memantine in Alzheimer's disease: experience in an Alzheimer's disease assessment unit.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Memantine is an uncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist. Clinical and observational studies have demonstrated its efficacy on both cognitive and behavioral symptoms of moderate-to-severe Alzheimer's disease (AD) and described its good safety and tolerability profile. We report here our experience with memantine in patients with AD during a two-year follow-up.
  
  
  METHODS
  From June 2005 to May 2010, memantine was given to 201 outpatients with moderate-to-severe AD: 93 patients were concomitantly receiving treatment with acetyl cholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) (Group 1) and the other 108 were prescribed memantine as monotherapy (Group 2). All patients were administered the following scales: Mini Mental State Examination, Activities of Daily Living, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, Neuropsychiatric Inventory. We report the results of followup assessments conducted at six months and 1, 2 and 3 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixteen patients (8%) stopped treatment within the first month because of side-effects. In each group, about 20% of subjects showed no deterioration at six months and 1 year, and this proportion decreased only slightly at 2 years. Higher NPI scores at baseline and psychotropic drug use emerged as factors significantly related to reduced response to treatment (p<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results confirmed the short-term effect of memantine, both in monotherapy and in combination with AchEIs in moderate-to-severe AD. This efficacy, albeit slight, was found to persist in the longer term.
authors: Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Unit/Laboratory of Neuropsychology, IRCCS C. Mondino National Institute of Neurology Foundation, Via Mondino 2, 27100 Pavia, Italy. elena.sinforiani@mondino.it
authors: Elena
authors: E
authors: Sinforiani
authors: Chiara
authors: C
authors: Pasotti
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Chiapella
authors: Paola
authors: P
authors: Malinverni
authors: Chiara
authors: C
authors: Zucchella
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008559:Memantine / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D008559:Memantine