Potentiation of rehabilitation: Medication effects on the recovery of function after brain injury and stroke.
In neurologic rehabilitation nothing is currently in clinical use that is effective in restoring lost neurologic function. This paper presents an overview of the various medicines that have been studied for their potential to facilitate recovery after brain injury. Early studies of acetylcholine and anticholinesterase drugs were reported favorably, but subsequent experience with them has not substantiated the initial enthusiasm. In the last two decades, data from work on rodents and cats suggest that certain drugs may facilitate or impede neurologic recovery after brain injury. Human studies on the effects of d-amphetamine and related compounds are sparse, and, although provocative, several problems make the results controversial. Data from studies in the laboratory suggest that clinicians may be impeding clinical outcome in stroke patients with some frequently used poststroke medications. A table lists (with references) the drugs that may impede recovery or reinstate deficits and drugs that may accelerate recovery.
From the Burke Rehabilitation Center, White Plains, NY, U.S.A.
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Dietz
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McDowell