Amantadine: Flu / Parkinson's Drug In Treatment For Traumatic Brain Injury

Editor's Choice Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience Article Date: 03 Mar 2012 - 14:00 PST

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Neuropsychologist Joseph Giacino of Boston's Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, co-leader of the study said :

Doctors have been using Amantadine for some years to treat brain injuries, but there has never been a comprehensive study to analyze the results. The new findings are an important step in the right direction, but many questions remain, including whether the drug will help patients that have less severe injuries, and also whether Amantadine will speed the recovery in the long term.

Doctors have been forced to use a variety of medicines normally approved for other ailments in the hopes that they would help brain injury patients. With nearly two million patients suffering traumatic debilitating injuries, the need for a comprehensive treatment is evident and while three quarters are mild concussions that heal over time, more than 50,000 die each year from brain injuries and another 275,000 are hospitalized.

Study co-leader, John Whyte, M.D., Ph.D, Director of Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute

The problem to date is that doctors have been treating patients based on hunches and common sense, rather than actual physical data. Amantadine is one such weapon of choice, a flu drug that was approved in the mid-1960s, appeared to improve those with Parkinson's disease, who were treated with it whilst in nursing homes. The drug seems to have an effect on the brain's dopamine system, and the Parkinson's patients showed improved movement and alertness. What started as an intuitive finding, is now approved for Parkinson's.

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Amantadine: Flu / Parkinson's Drug In Treatment For Traumatic Brain Injury