Parkinson’s Drug Quickens Recovery After Brain Injury in Study
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A drug for Parkinson’s disease accelerated the ability of patients with severe brain injuries to open their eyes and speak, providing what researchers said is the first evidence that a medical treatment might help speed head trauma recovery.
Patients taking the medicine, amantadine, for four weeks regained cognitive functioning faster than those on a placebo, according to the 184-patient study published online yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The rate of recovery declined in two weeks after treatment and it’s unknown whether the drug aided long-term improvement.