Amantadine (pk merz) for vascular dementia - is it effective?

Question

How long does it take to work

Answer 1

Amantadine (pk merz) is an antiviral and anti-parkinson's drug. It is believed that to help the symptoms of Parkinson's by blocking the so-called NMDA receptor. It is conceivable that amantadine's activity as NMDA receptor blocker may also help in other neurological conditions, including vascular dementia.

However, there has been very little clinical research on treating vascular dementia with amantadine. I only found one very small Japanese study hinting at some potential benefits (see http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200621/000020062106A0590682.php )

On the other hand, another NMDA receptor blocker, memantine, produced improvement in some aspects of vascular dementia in two relatively large and comprehensive studies (see review here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2685259/ ).

Overall, the use of  NMDA receptor blockers to treat vascular dementia appears promising. However, it remains unclear whether amantadine is the right NMDA receptor blocker to use for this purpose and what the best practice of such use could be - if any.