Treatments

AMPHETAMINES MAY HELP STROKE PATIENTS

People who had lost the ability to speak because of a stroke improved more
quickly when they were given low doses of an amphetamine along with speech
therapy, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Stroke.

The study, led by Dr. Delaina Walker- Batson of Texas Woman's University in
Dallas, built on research in animals that had found that brain injuries
healed faster when the animals were given drugs, like amphetamines, that
increased the release of a chemical called norepinephrine.

In the study, 21 stroke patients who had lost the ability to speak were
randomly assigned to receive placebos or low doses of dextroamphetamine
before their scheduled speech therapy sessions.

A difference in recovery rates was apparent after a week, the article said.
And 10 of the 12 patients receiving the drug soon reached the benchmarks
that were considered to mark significant improvement, while only two of the
nine given placebos did.

Dr. Walker-Batson wrote that it was impossible to tell from the study
whether the difference in the rate of improvement translated into a
permanent difference in outcome.

But considering the benefits from 10 doses combined with 33 hours of speech
therapy, she wrote, "we have to ask what more drug and more treatment might
do."