Global rating, symptoms, behavior, and cognitive performance as indicators of efficacy in clinical studies with nimodipine in elderly patients with cognitive impairment syndromes.

Nimodipine is a calcium antagonist which improves learning and memory in brain-lesioned or aged animals (LeVere & Sandin, 1989; Schuurman & Traber, 1989). It also accelerates the recovery of experimentally damaged sciatic nerves (van der Zee et al., 1987) and reduces age-associated gait abnormalities in aging rats (Schuurman et al., 1987). Selective action on cerebral vessels has also been proven. Vasoconstriction was prevented or reduced with nimodipine under experimental conditions (Toward, 1981) and cerebral blood flow could be increased (Kazda et al., 1982). The drug has been tested in subarachnoid hemorrhage, stroke, severe head injury, cerebral resuscitation after cardiac arrest, impaired brain function in old age, and dementia. Methodological aspects of clinical studies with this agent are examined in this paper.