Methylphenidate fails to improve gait and muscle tone in patients with sporadic and hereditary spastic paraplegia
✍ Scribed by Stephan Klebe; Günther Deuschl; Henning Stolze
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2006
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 95 KB
- Volume
- 21
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0885-3185
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Based on its action on multiple neurotransmitters, including dopamine, methylphenidate (MPH) is of growing interest as a possible treatment option for several movement disorders. Of special interest are diseases that share gait disturbance and cognitive decline. Based on a single case observation in a patient with hereditary spastic spinal paraplegia (HSP) in which gait was improved with MPH, we performed an open‐label study with a longitudinal follow‐up in 22 patients with HSP and its sporadic form (SSP). The patients were treated for 6 months with 60 mg of MPH per day. Computerized gait analysis and different scores were performed at baseline, after 6 weeks, and after 6 months of treatment. Although at 6 weeks, the gait velocity was somewhat improved, the drug failed to show any effect on other gait parameters and had no beneficial effect at all after 6 months. Although MPH is of interest for several movement disorders, our study did not show a beneficial effect. © 2006 Movement Disorder Society