Rivastigmine as a Symptomatic Treatment for Apathy in Parkinson’s Dementia Complex: New Aspects for This Riddle

Over 90% of PDD patients show at least one neuropsychiatric symptom (NPS); in the 60–70% two or more NPS are present. Their incidence is important in terms of prognosis and severity of pathology. However, among all NPS, apathy is often the most disturbing, associated with greater caregiver’s burden....

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Main Authors: Rita Moretti, Paola Caruso, Matteo Dal Ben
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2017-01-01
Series:Parkinson's Disease
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/6219851
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author Rita Moretti
Paola Caruso
Matteo Dal Ben
author_facet Rita Moretti
Paola Caruso
Matteo Dal Ben
author_sort Rita Moretti
collection DOAJ
description Over 90% of PDD patients show at least one neuropsychiatric symptom (NPS); in the 60–70% two or more NPS are present. Their incidence is important in terms of prognosis and severity of pathology. However, among all NPS, apathy is often the most disturbing, associated with greater caregiver’s burden. Similar to other NPS, apathy may be due to a dysfunction of the nigrostriatal pathway, even though, not all the PD patients become apathetic, indicating that apathy should not entirely be considered a dopamine-dependent syndrome, and in fact it might also be related to acetylcholine defects. Apathy has been treated in many ways, without sure benefits; among these, Rivastigmine may present benefic properties. We present a series of 48 patients, suffering from PDD, treated with Rivastigmine, and followed-up for one year; they have been devotedly studied for apathy, even though all the other NPS disorders have been registered. Rivastigmine did not have a prolonged benefic effect on apathy, in our work, on the contrary of what had been observed in the literature, probably due to the longer follow-up of our patients.
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spelling doaj-art-cd465ccf2f0d4bdea8c51e01fd20fdfc2025-08-20T02:19:52ZengWileyParkinson's Disease2090-80832042-00802017-01-01201710.1155/2017/62198516219851Rivastigmine as a Symptomatic Treatment for Apathy in Parkinson’s Dementia Complex: New Aspects for This RiddleRita Moretti0Paola Caruso1Matteo Dal Ben2Clinica Neurologica, Dipartimento Universitario Clinico di Scienze Mediche, Chirurgiche e della Salute, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Trieste, ItalyClinica Neurologica, Dipartimento Universitario Clinico di Scienze Mediche, Chirurgiche e della Salute, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Trieste, ItalyFIF Science Park, University of Trieste, Trieste, ItalyOver 90% of PDD patients show at least one neuropsychiatric symptom (NPS); in the 60–70% two or more NPS are present. Their incidence is important in terms of prognosis and severity of pathology. However, among all NPS, apathy is often the most disturbing, associated with greater caregiver’s burden. Similar to other NPS, apathy may be due to a dysfunction of the nigrostriatal pathway, even though, not all the PD patients become apathetic, indicating that apathy should not entirely be considered a dopamine-dependent syndrome, and in fact it might also be related to acetylcholine defects. Apathy has been treated in many ways, without sure benefits; among these, Rivastigmine may present benefic properties. We present a series of 48 patients, suffering from PDD, treated with Rivastigmine, and followed-up for one year; they have been devotedly studied for apathy, even though all the other NPS disorders have been registered. Rivastigmine did not have a prolonged benefic effect on apathy, in our work, on the contrary of what had been observed in the literature, probably due to the longer follow-up of our patients.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/6219851
spellingShingle Rita Moretti
Paola Caruso
Matteo Dal Ben
Rivastigmine as a Symptomatic Treatment for Apathy in Parkinson’s Dementia Complex: New Aspects for This Riddle
Parkinson's Disease
title Rivastigmine as a Symptomatic Treatment for Apathy in Parkinson’s Dementia Complex: New Aspects for This Riddle
title_full Rivastigmine as a Symptomatic Treatment for Apathy in Parkinson’s Dementia Complex: New Aspects for This Riddle
title_fullStr Rivastigmine as a Symptomatic Treatment for Apathy in Parkinson’s Dementia Complex: New Aspects for This Riddle
title_full_unstemmed Rivastigmine as a Symptomatic Treatment for Apathy in Parkinson’s Dementia Complex: New Aspects for This Riddle
title_short Rivastigmine as a Symptomatic Treatment for Apathy in Parkinson’s Dementia Complex: New Aspects for This Riddle
title_sort rivastigmine as a symptomatic treatment for apathy in parkinson s dementia complex new aspects for this riddle
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/6219851
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AT matteodalben rivastigmineasasymptomatictreatmentforapathyinparkinsonsdementiacomplexnewaspectsforthisriddle