Alzheimer's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Alzheimer's Disease, including details on diagnosis, memory loss, heredity, treatment, medication.

Do vascular lesions and related risk factors influence responsiveness to donepezil chloride in patients with Alzheimer's disease?

Fukui T, Taguchi S

Internal Medicine, Neurology, Showa University Northern Yokohama Hospital, Yokohama, Japan. tfukui@med.showa-u.ac.jp

The purpose was to identify vascular influences on the responsiveness to donepezil chloride. The study included 50 untreated probable Alzheimer's disease patients with the Modified Hachinski Ischemic Score <4. We assessed baseline cognitive status using the Revised Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS-R), Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) and the clock drawing test (CDT). The response to 5 mg of donepezil was monitored by the CDT for 12 months. Patients were classified as true responders (TR), unchanged (UC) and non-responders according to changes on the CDT in response to treatment. High HDS-R scores, low CDT scores, low CDR and presence of hypertension (HBP) and periventricular hyperintensities (PVH) predicted a TR- or UC-type outcome. Aggravation of executive function by HBP and/or PVH and its improvement by donepezil may have been detected by the CDT.

Published 13 June 2005 in Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord, 20(1): 15-24.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Alzheimer's Disease Research Today. All Rights Reserved.