Treatment with amantadine potentiated motor learning in a patient with traumatic brain injury of 15 years' duration.

This study sought to determine whether pharmacotherapy with amantadine potentiates motor recovery in an 18-year-old man with traumatic brain injury (TBI) of 15 years' duration. This uncontrolled single-case multiple-baseline design allowed preliminary evaluation of amantadine within the context of standard data-collection procedures on the TBI unit. Measurements tracked speed of wheelchair propulsion, wheelchair transfer, donning shirt, and inserting pegs into holes. Data were collected during a 3-week practice period, followed by a 6-week period of practice plus daily treatment with amantadine. The rate at which performance improved was significantly increased with drug treatment in the wheelchair transfer task. There was a statistically insignificant trend toward improvement in donning shirt. Amantadine did not appear to potentiate recovery in the wheelchair propulsion or peg placement tasks. The results suggest that amantadine facilitates some measures of motor recovery in chronic brain injury. Further trials are warranted to investigate this issue.