TY - JOUR
T1 - Guidelines for the use of tacrine in Alzheimer's disease
T2 - Clinical application and effectiveness
AU - Lyketsos, Constantine G.
AU - Corazzini, Kirsten
AU - Steele, Cynthia D.
AU - Kraus, Marilyn F.
PY - 1996/1/1
Y1 - 1996/1/1
N2 - The efficacy of tacrine for treatment of Alzheimer's has been demonstrated in several clinical trials but has not been assessed in cases complicated by medical and psychiatric comorbidities. Additionally, the benefit-risk ratio of tacrine is small, so it is best administered with carefully developed guidelines that specify this ratio for patients and families. On the basis of guidelines developed for the Johns Hopkins Dementia Research Clinic, tacrine treatment was offered to 162 patients with probable Alzheimer's. Only 35 accepted, and only 22 continued on tacrine beyond 3 months. The latter group declined by 1.36 points over 1 year on the Mini-Mental State Examination, significantly less than expected. The authors conclude that, if used in the context of clinical guidelines, tacrine is an effective treatment for Alzheimer's.
AB - The efficacy of tacrine for treatment of Alzheimer's has been demonstrated in several clinical trials but has not been assessed in cases complicated by medical and psychiatric comorbidities. Additionally, the benefit-risk ratio of tacrine is small, so it is best administered with carefully developed guidelines that specify this ratio for patients and families. On the basis of guidelines developed for the Johns Hopkins Dementia Research Clinic, tacrine treatment was offered to 162 patients with probable Alzheimer's. Only 35 accepted, and only 22 continued on tacrine beyond 3 months. The latter group declined by 1.36 points over 1 year on the Mini-Mental State Examination, significantly less than expected. The authors conclude that, if used in the context of clinical guidelines, tacrine is an effective treatment for Alzheimer's.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0030024651&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0030024651&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1176/jnp.8.1.67
DO - 10.1176/jnp.8.1.67
M3 - Article
C2 - 8845704
AN - SCOPUS:0030024651
SN - 0895-0172
VL - 8
SP - 67
EP - 73
JO - Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences
JF - Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences
IS - 1
ER -