BACKGROUND: Amantadine is currently recommended for use in patients of post-traumatic brain injury with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS). However, the application of amantadine in UWS after cerebral hemorrhage has only been rarely reported. This allows for a further exploration of the role of amantadine in the treatment of UWS resulting from a severe cerebral hemorrhage. METHODS: We observed the changes of seven patients with UWS of intracerebral hemorrhage after taking amantadine. We also carried out a detailed neurological examination of the patient with disorders of consciousness to include or exclude subjects for the study. CRS-R score was used to evaluate the neurological recovery. RESULTS: An improvement in consciousness was observed within 3-6 days after the start of amantadine administration in all seven cases (n = 7/7; 100%). Five patients recovered conscious and left aphasia, hemiplegia and other sequelae, and two patients recovered from UWS to minimally conscious state (MCS). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, amantadine administration showed substantial positive effects on recovery following severe cerebral hemorrhage. We recommend further randomized controlled studies to determine the efficacy of amantadine.
BACKGROUND:Amantadine is currently recommended for use in patients of post-traumatic brain injury with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS). However, the application of amantadine in UWS after cerebral hemorrhage has only been rarely reported. This allows for a further exploration of the role of amantadine in the treatment of UWS resulting from a severe cerebral hemorrhage. METHODS: We observed the changes of seven patients with UWS of intracerebral hemorrhage after taking amantadine. We also carried out a detailed neurological examination of the patient with disorders of consciousness to include or exclude subjects for the study. CRS-R score was used to evaluate the neurological recovery. RESULTS: An improvement in consciousness was observed within 3-6 days after the start of amantadine administration in all seven cases (n = 7/7; 100%). Five patients recovered conscious and left aphasia, hemiplegia and other sequelae, and two patients recovered from UWS to minimally conscious state (MCS). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, amantadine administration showed substantial positive effects on recovery following severe cerebral hemorrhage. We recommend further randomized controlled studies to determine the efficacy of amantadine.
Authors: Antonio Verduzco-Mendoza; Paul Carrillo-Mora; Alberto Avila-Luna; Arturo Gálvez-Rosas; Adriana Olmos-Hernández; Daniel Mota-Rojas; Antonio Bueno-Nava Journal: Front Neurosci Date: 2021-06-24 Impact factor: 4.677