Biomaterial Database

Oral physostigmine as treatment for dementia of the Alzheimer type: a long-term outpatient trial. 1990

M A Jenike, and M S Albert, and L Baer

Division on Aging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston 02114.

Six patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT), treated with oral physostigmine and followed from 9 to 27 months (mean +/- SD, 17.8 +/- 7.3 months), were matched for sex, age, initial degree of dementia, and length of follow-up with six control patients who did not receive oral physostigmine. The small sample size precluded drawing definite conclusions about overall efficacy; however, three in the physostigmine group did not deteriorate during the course of follow-up while all of the controls deteriorated although the difference was nonsignificant. The data generated in these patients provides evidence of the safety of long-term trials of oral physostigmine. The possible role of cholinesterase inhibition in retarding the progression of DAT is discussed.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D010830	Physostigmine	A cholinesterase inhibitor that is rapidly absorbed through membranes. It can be applied topically to the conjunctiva. It also can cross the blood-brain barrier and is used when central nervous system effects are desired, as in the treatment of severe anticholinergic toxicity.	Eserine
D010919	Placebos	Any dummy medication or treatment. Although placebos originally were medicinal preparations having no specific pharmacological activity against a targeted condition, the concept has been extended to include treatments or procedures, especially those administered to control groups in clinical trials in order to provide baseline measurements for the experimental protocol.	Sham Treatment
D011569	Psychiatric Status Rating Scales	Standardized procedures utilizing rating scales or interview schedules carried out by health personnel for evaluating the degree of mental illness.	Factor Construct Rating Scales (FCRS),Katz Adjustment Scales,Lorr's Inpatient Multidimensional Psychiatric Rating Scale,Wittenborn Scales,Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale,Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview
D004311	Double-Blind Method	A method of studying a drug or procedure in which both the subjects and investigators are kept unaware of who is actually getting which specific treatment.	Double-Masked Study,Double-Blind Study,Double-Masked Method,Double Blind Method,Double Blind Study,Double Masked Method,Double Masked Study,Double-Blind Methods,Double-Blind Studies,Double-Masked Methods,Double-Masked Studies,Method, Double-Blind,Method, Double-Masked,Methods, Double-Blind,Methods, Double-Masked,Studies, Double-Blind,Studies, Double-Masked,Study, Double-Blind,Study, Double-Masked
D005260	Female		Females
D005500	Follow-Up Studies	Studies in which individuals or populations are followed to assess the outcome of exposures, procedures, or effects of a characteristic, e.g., occurrence of disease.	Followup Studies,Follow Up Studies,Follow-Up Study,Followup Study,Studies, Follow-Up,Studies, Followup,Study, Follow-Up,Study, Followup
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000284	Administration, Oral	The giving of drugs, chemicals, or other substances by mouth.	Drug Administration, Oral,Administration, Oral Drug,Oral Administration,Oral Drug Administration,Administrations, Oral,Administrations, Oral Drug,Drug Administrations, Oral,Oral Administrations,Oral Drug Administrations