Clinical experience with piribedil in chronic cerebrovascular disease with cognitive impairment

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate the effect of piribedil on cognitive functions in elderly patients with chronic cerebrovascular disease (CCVD) and cognitive impairment (CI). Patients and methods. A total of 67 patients aged 60-75 years with CCVD and CI were examined. A control group included 32 patients who had received basic therapy with antihypertensive and, if indicated, lipid-lowering and antithrombotic drugs. A study group consisted of 35 patients who additionally took piribedil 50 mg after evening meals for 3 months. Neuropsychological examination was made before and after a treatment cycle. Results and discussion. After 3 months, only the piribedil group showed a significant neuropsychological improvement (p<0.05-0.001). There were statistically significant differences in the measures of short-term (5.9±0.5 and 4.27±0.5 words; p<0.05) and long-term (6.4±0.8 and 4.16±0.5 words; p<0.05) memories, correction task (38.4±0.8 and 49.1±0.1 errors; p<0.001), attentiveness (421.0±0.9 and 406.0±0.6 sec; p<0.001), and work efficiency (16.3±0.9 and 12.3±1.2 sec; p<0.05). The investigation revealed that the drug had a good tolerability, neither adverse events nor drug-drug interactions. Conclusion. When used in CCVD and CI, piribedil 50 mg once daily for 3 months is able to improve cognitive functions in elderly patients, which indicates that it is feasible to use the drug in combined therapy with essential (antihypertensive, lipid-lowering, antithrombotic) medicines.

Keywords

• stage iii chronic cerebrovascular insufficiency
• vascular cognitive impairment
• piribedil
• cognitive functions