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New England Journal of Medicine published an article today showinga significant breakthrough in treating patients with a vegetativeand minimally conscious state. The drug, known as Amantadine waspreviously used to treat flu , but when given to severely injured patients, recovery resultswere markedly improved. Neuropsychologist Joseph Giacino of Boston's SpauldingRehabilitation Hospital, co-leader of the study said : "This drug moved the needle in terms of speeding patient recovery,and that's not been shown before ... It really does provide hopefor a population that is viewed in many places as hopeless." Doctors have been using Amantadine for some years to treat braininjuries, but there has never been a comprehensive study to analyzethe results. The new findings are an important step in the rightdirection, but many questions remain, including whether the drugwill help patients that have less severe injuries, and also whetherAmantadine will speed the recovery in the long term. Doctors have been forced to use a variety of medicines normallyapproved for other ailments in the hopes that they would help braininjury patients. With nearly two million patients sufferingtraumatic debilitating injuries, the need for a comprehensivetreatment is evident and while three quarters are mild concussions that heal over time, more than 50,000 die each year from braininjuries and another 275,000 are hospitalized. Study co-leader, John Whyte, M.D., Ph.D, Director of MossRehabilitation Research Institute "Now that we know that amantadine can accelerate neurologicrecovery, we need to explore the dose and treatment schedule thatprovides the greatest and most durable treatment impact ...Importantly, this study adds to the growing evidence that patientswith disorders of consciousness have rehabilitation potential thatwe are just beginning to tap." The problem to date is that doctors have been treating patientsbased on hunches and common sense, rather than actual physicaldata. Amantadine is one such weapon of choice, a flu drug that wasapproved in the mid-1960s, appeared to improve those with Parkinson's disease , who were treated with it whilst in nursing homes. The drug seemsto have an effect on the brain's dopamine system, and theParkinson's patients showed improved movement and alertness. Whatstarted as an intuitive finding, is now approved for Parkinson's. Whyte continued that: "(It's now commonly used for brain injuries, and the researchersfelt it was important to find out) whether we're treating patientswith a useful drug, a harmful drug or a useless drug," The recent study was carried out in Germany and looked at 184disabled patients with an average age of 36. A third of them werein what is termed a vegetative state, where they are mainlyunconscious with only short periods showing signs of awareness. Amandatine was randomly assigned to patients, the rest were given adummy drug for four weeks. Both groups seemed to show some signs ofimprovement, but those on amantadine had better, faster results.When researchers stopped the drug, recovery in patients who hadreceived it slowed, and two weeks after stopping treatment, bothgroups appeared about the same again. One possible use for the drug is in treating US troops with braininjuries. Since 2000, nearly a quarter of a million US soldiershave suffered traumatic brain injuries, including more than 6,000serious cases, mostly from bomb blasts or shrapnel. Another areathat clearly needs more research is in treating other kinds oftrauma, such as that from a stroke . Giacino said the drug still has value even if it only hastensrecovery : "What condition would we not jump for joy if we could have it over with faster?" Written by Rupert Shepherd Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today Additional References Citations. I am an expert from onlineups-system.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Solar Power Inverter , Low Frequency Online UPS Manufacturer, Low Frequency Online UPS,and more.
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