Reactions 1453 - 25 May 2013

SMemantine

Loss of consciousness: 2 case reportsTwo men with Alzheimer disease experienced loss of

consciousness while receiving memantine [routes not stated].A 60-year-old man was admitted after experiencing three

episodes of loss of consciousness lasting for approximately60–120 seconds each. Each episode was separated by roughly3 minutes and was characterised by general muscle hypotonia.He had been receiving memantine 10mg twice daily for24 months. Memantine was withdrawn, and he wasdischarged after 3 days. Two years after discharge, he had notexperienced any further loss of consciousness episodes.

A 70-year-old man was taken to hospital with a suspectedforearm fracture following a fall after experiencing threeepisodes of loss of consciousness over a 4-hour period. Eachepisode lasted for approximately 60 seconds and wascharacterised by marked general body flaccidity. He had beenreceiving memantine 10mg twice daily for 15 months. X-rayconfirmed a distal fracture of the radius. He was admitted, andmemantine was withdrawn. Nine days later, he wasdischarged. Two and a half years after discharge, he had notexperienced any further loss of consciousness episodes.

Author comment: "[M]emantine yielded a higher NaranjoAdverse Drug Reaction Possibility Scale score than othersuspected drugs."Savic A, et al. Two Cases of Loss of Consciousness After Long-Term MemantineTreatment. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association 14: 375-376,No. 5, May 2013. Available from: URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2013.01.010 - Croatia 803087161

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Reactions 25 May 2013 No. 14530114-9954/10/1453-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved