Özet:

Objective: Rivastigmin has been shown to improve cognition in patients with Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) without any remarkable negative effects on the motor function of the patients. In this study, we evaluated positive effects of rivastigmine therapy on cognition in PDD by means of behavioral inventory and neuropsychological tests and P300. In addition, we investigated the patients clinically and electrophysiologically using movement related cortical potentials (MRCP) and reaction time (RT) to show whether there are any negative effects of rivastigmin on motor function. Material and Method: Ten idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and 9 PDD patients were included to the study. Patients were assessed by neuropsychological test battery and also neurophysiological tests (P300, MRCP and RT) before rivastigmine treatment and after the sixth month of treatment. Results: PDD patients showed statistically significant improvement in neuropsychological tests related memory and shortening of P300 latency. However, we didn't found any statistically significant changes in the measurements of MRCP and RT tests after therapy. Conclusion: Our study has suggested that while rivastigmine therapy improve cognitive functions in PDD, it doesn't cause any side effects on motor function of patients.

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