Dementia

Letters4 February 2020DementiaThomas E. Finucane, MDThomas E. Finucane, MDMassachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts (T.E.F.)Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/L19-0681 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:Oh and Rabins (1) provide lukewarm guidance on the pharmacologic treatment of Alzheimer disease. They state that acetylcholinesterase inhibitors “can be prescribed for treatment of symptomatic Alzheimer disease” and that memantine is “approved for use.” They note that use of these drugs “may be stopped” if no benefit is seen. They also provide a table with prescribing information.Oh and Rabins emphasize a placebo-controlled trial that assigned donepezil-treated patients with Alzheimer disease to stop donepezil therapy, continue it, continue it and add memantine, or switch to memantine (2). That trial's authors acknowledge that “clearly, the effect of ...References1. Oh ES, Rabins PV. Dementia. Ann Intern Med. 2019;171:ITC33-48. [PMID: 31476229]. doi:10.7326/AITC201909030 LinkGoogle Scholar2. Howard R, McShane R, Lindesay J, et al. Donepezil and memantine for moderate-to-severe Alzheimer's disease. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:893-903. [PMID: 22397651] doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1106668 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Howard R, Phillips P, Gray R. Discontinuing donepezil or starting memantine for Alzheimer's disease [Letter]. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:2227-8. [PMID: 22670912] doi:10.1056/NEJMc1204656 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Finucane MM, Finucane TE. Discontinuing donepezil or starting memantine for Alzheimer's disease [Letter]. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:2227-8. [PMID: 22670912] doi:10.1056/NEJMc1204656 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Prescrire in English. Drugs for Alzheimer's disease: finally delisted in France! 2019. Accessed at https://english.prescrire.org/en/81/168/55126/0/NewsDetails.aspx on 20 December 2019. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts (T.E.F.)Disclosures: The author has disclosed no conflicts of interest. The form can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=L19-0681. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoDementia Esther S. Oh and Peter V. Rabins Dementia Esther S. Oh and Peter V. Rabins Metrics 4 February 2020Volume 172, Issue 3Page: 225-226KeywordsAlzheimer diseaseCognitionConflicts of interestDementiaDisclosureDrugsToxicity ePublished: 4 February 2020 Issue Published: 4 February 2020 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2020 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...