Intracerebroventricular bethanechol for Alzheimer's disease. Variable dose-related responses
S. L. Read, J. Frazee, J. Shapira, C. Smith, J. L. Cummings and U. Tomiyasu
John Douglas French Center, Los Alamitos, CA 90720.
Five male patients participated in a pilot open-label study of dose-related
aspects of response to intracerebroventricular bethanechol in Alzheimer's
disease. No patient had remission of symptoms, but three patients improved
symptomatically and on tests of memory. Improvement was evident over a
restricted range of doses for each subject, and symptoms were worse at
doses below and above the optimal range. There was little overlap in the
range of doses producing improvement among these three. Two patients had no
consistent improvement in memory, and agitation, depression, paranoia, and
seizures developed during treatment. Qualitative differences and
variability in dosages producing responses complicate the identification of
true drug response in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
