Drugs Used in the Treatment of Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders

Abstract

Dementia is a devastating illness for which currently there is no curative treatment. In the last twenty years, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors have been approved in mild to moderate stages of the illness to delay the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, the most prevalent form of dementia, while memantine has been approved for later stages. Clinical experience shows that drug treatment of cognitive symptoms is of little benefit, but there is evidence that both acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and memantine could be helpful to alleviate the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, especially in variants where other alternatives, such as antipsychotics, can be detrimental.

Keywords: Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, Alzheimer’s disease, Antipsychotics, Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, Citicoline, Dementia, Dihydrotoxine, Donepezil, Galantamine, Huperzine A, Lewy body disease, Meclofenoxate, Memantine, Mild cognitive impairment, Neurodegeneration, Nicotinic receptors, NMDA receptors, Parkinson’s disease, Piracetam, Psychosis, Rivastigmine, Tacrine, Transdermal rivastigmine, Vascular dementia, Vasodilators.