Sunday 30 October 2016

Memantine and Radiation

Dear all:

This is to let you know that Memantine (Nameda, an anti-Alzheimer drug) can be used to prevent radiation-induced neurocognitive decline to a certain extent. My sister's radiation oncologist recommends it, it is apparently routinely prescribed for children undergoing brain radiation.
Patients usually take it a few days before radiation, during treatment, and for six months post-treatments. My sister's side effects so far have been headache, body ache, tiredness, and nausea.
But it might be worthwhile to ask for it.
Wishing you all the best,
M.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks Meer, there has also been animal studies showing memantine can slow tumor growth in glutamate-secreting tumors.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11533703

    Memantine is also included in a GBM trial at MD Anderson
    https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01430351

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Stephen for the info.

    Is there a way to know whether a glioma secretes glutamate?

    ReplyDelete