Selegiline in the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer-type dementia.

Selegiline, an inhibitor of monoamine oxidase B, was tested on patients with mild to moderate dementia of the Alzheimer type. Its efficacy and tolerability were compared with that of phosphatidylserine in a randomized, single-blind, parallel fashion. Forty patients (24 men and 16 women) entered the trial. Selegiline was administered in 10-mg tablets once daily and phosphatidylserine in 100-mg capsules twice daily, both treatments lasting three months. Drug efficacy was assessed at baseline and then each month by means of an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests. The assessment of drug safety was based on monitoring for adverse drug reactions and on routine laboratory tests performed before and after treatment. At the end of the study the selegiline group showed improvements statistically significantly superior to those obtained in the phosphatidylserine group on most of the cognitive areas examined. Furthermore, of particular interest was the discovery, found only in the selegiline group, of an increased degree of autonomy in day-to-day activities. Tolerability was good, the only side effect reported in both groups being slight or moderate nausea, which was severe enough to warrant withdrawal from treatment only in one case, a patient in the selegiline group with a history of gastroduodenitis.