Open Label Pilot Study of the Effects of Memantine on FDG-PET in Frontotemporal Dementia

Summary

Memantine has been approved for use in Alzheimer's disease. Its mechanism of action raises questions of whether it can also be effective for non-Alzheimer's dementias such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which currently has no disease-modifying treatment. This is an open-label study to probe the effects of memantine in 15 outpatients diagnosed with FTD, as shown objectively by comparing PET scans performed before and after use of the medication. The specific type of PET scan, FDG-PET, allows the investigators to gauge the effects of memantine on cortical activity levels. The investigators hypothesize that subjects on memantine will show normalization of cortical metabolic activity.

Timeline

Start

2007-10

Primary completion

2012-06

Completion

2012-06

Publications

• Background Swanberg MM. Memantine for behavioral disturbances in frontotemporal dementia: a case series. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2007 Apr-Jun;21(2):164-6. doi: 10.1097/WAD.0b013e318047df5d.
• Results Chow TW, Binns MA, Freedman M, Pollock BG, Verhoeff NPG, Graff-Guerrero A. Pre- and post-memantine FDG-PET imaging in frontotemporal dementia. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2009;17(3 Supp 1): A73.
• Results Chow TW, Graff-Guerrero A, Verhoeff NP, Binns MA, Tang-Wai DF, Freedman M, Masellis M, Black SE, Wilson AA, Houle S, Pollock BG. Open-label study of the short-term effects of memantine on FDG-PET in frontotemporal dementia. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2011;7:415-24. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S22635. Epub 2011 Jul 13.
• Results Chow TW, Fam D, Graff-Guerrero A, Verhoeff NP, Tang-Wai DF, Masellis M, Black SE, Wilson AA, Houle S, Pollock BG. Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in semantic dementia after 6 months of memantine: an open-label pilot study. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2013 Mar;28(3):319-25. doi: 10.1002/gps.3832. Epub 2012 Jun 4.

Drugs

Indications