Author/Editor		Kobal, Jan
Title		The effect of bromocriptine on rehabilitation in patients suffering from an acute ischemic stroke. 1996; Zagreb
Type		monografija
Place		Zagreb
Publisher		Medicinski fakultet sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Publication year		1996
Volume		str. 55
Language		eng
Abstract		Little is known about the drugs, used to support rehabilitation of patients who have suffered from an acute ischemic stroke. According to previous animal experiments and open human clinical studies we supported that doapminergic stimulation might be helpful to stroke patients. We therefore designed a double blind controlled clinical study to determine whether dopaminergic stimulation would speed up rehabilitation in patients after an acute ischemic stroke in carotid artery distribution. Forty-four noncomatose adult women and men after the first-ever ischemic stroke were enroled in this study. For the clinical evaluation the neurological scoring system was used. Components of the neurological examination pertinent to hemispheric stroke syndromes were emphasised. The patients were first tested before the drug administration and then re-tested every 5th day until the end of the 15 day lasting study. The therapy was then discontinued. As the experimental drug postsynaptic doapminergic agonist bromocriptine was chosen. The administration of the drug was started orally from 6th to 9th day after the stroke in escalated doses until a limit of 15 mg daily was reached in about one week. It was found that the bromocriptine treated group of patients showed significantly better clinical improvement regarding the total score value (p=0.02) and the neglect syndrome (p=0.04). Improvement of other functions was not statistically significant. Of 44 included patients 39 accomplished the study. We concluded that dopaminergic stimulation using low doses of bromocriptine, despite of short duration of this study, improved rehabilitation in the treated group of stroke patients.
Descriptors		CEREBROVASCULAR DISORDERS CEREBRAL ISCHEMIA BROMOCRIPTINE NEUROLOGIC EXAMINATION DOUBLE-BLIND METHOD