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Double-blind, placebo
controlled study of acetyl-l-carnitine in patients with Alzheimer's
dementia.
Rai
G, Wright G,
Scott L,
Beston B,
Rest J,
Exton-Smith AN
Department of Geriatric Medicine, Whittington
Hospital, London, England.
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled,
parallel-group clinical trial was carried out to compare 24-week
periods of treatment with 1 g acetyl-l-carnitine twice daily and
placebo in the treatment of patients with dementia of the Alzheimer
type. A total of 36 patients entered the trial, of whom 20 patients
(7 active, 13 placebo) completed the full 24 weeks. Whilst several
of the efficacy indices showed little change in either group during
the trial, there was an apparent trend for more improvement in the
acetyl-l-carnitine group in relation to the Names Learning Test and
a computerized Digit Recall Test, both related to aspects of
short-term memory. Similarly, there was a trend for reaction time in
the computerized classification test to show less deterioration in
the active treatment group. Changes within groups, and changes
between groups, failed to reach statistical significance, at least
partially because of the small number of patients available for
analysis. Two indices of overall therapeutic benefit showed a trend
for less deterioration in the active-treatment group than in the
placebo group. Nausea and/or vomiting occurred in 5 patients in the
acetyl-l-carnitine group. Laboratory tests revealed no signs of drug
toxicity. The results suggest that acetyl-l-carnitine may have a
beneficial effect on some clinical features of Alzheimer-type
dementia, particularly those related to short-term memory.
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