Key result
Patients with dementia exhibited a reduced increase in oxygenated haemoglobin during a verbal fluency task compared to healthy controls, while galantamine yielded no clear treatment effects.
Why the study?
Does galantamine treatment alter functional brain activation patterns in elderly patients with dementia?
Case-Control (n=24)
Does galantamine treatment alter functional brain activation patterns in elderly patients with dementia?
Dementia patients exhibit reduced prefrontal brain activation during verbal tasks, with notable gender differences, though galantamine treatment did not yield clear activation changes.
Reduced prefrontal activation in dementia during verbal tasks may mark executive impairment; leaves open galantamine effects on cerebral oxygenation patterns.
Patients suffering from dementia show altered functional brain activation patterns especially in prefrontal brain regions, as research suggests. The present study follows three aims: to replicate these findings, to investigate treatment effects when administering galantamine, and to put gender differences in focus. We compared 12 patients with dementia to 12 age- and gender-matched healthy subjects regarding changes in haemoglobin concentration in brain tissue while performing a verbal fluency task (VFT). Concentration changes of oxygenated (O(2)Hb) and deoxygenated (HHb) haemoglobin were measured by multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), an easily applicable and non-invasive method of optical topography. In the patient group, measurement was repeated 4 and 8 weeks after starting treatment with galantamine. The results showed a reduced increase in O(2)Hb during task performance for patients compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, female subjects showed more pronounced activation in O(2)Hb as well as HHb compared to male subjects. Regarding treatment effects, no clear results could be obtained. In HHb, evidence for an entrainment effect was found. In the light of existing literature, the present study suggests an interaction of gender and age regarding brain activation patterns which should be aimed at in future investigations.
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Richter et al. (2006) conducted a case-control in Dementia (n=24). Dementia vs. Healthy controls was evaluated on Changes in oxygenated (O2Hb) and deoxygenated (HHb) haemoglobin concentration during a verbal fluency task. Patients with dementia exhibited a reduced increase in oxygenated haemoglobin during a verbal fluency task compared to healthy controls, while galantamine yielded no clear treatment effects.
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