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Gangliosides in the treatment of mental deterioration
Author(s) -
Miceli G.,
Caltagirone C.,
Gainotti G.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1977.tb00145.x
Subject(s) - placebo , neuropsychology , dementia , placebo group , medicine , raven's progressive matrices , psychiatry , psychology , cognition , pathology , disease , alternative medicine
Thirty patients showing signs of mental deterioration were submitted to a neuropsychological battery before and after treatment with gangliosides. Their performances were compared, in a double‐blind study, with those obtained on the same tests by 30 patients affected by similar degrees of dementia and treated with placebo. The improvement shown on Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices and on Immediate Visual Memory by the active group was significantly higher than that shown by the placebo group. Furthermore, an evaluation of the overall effect of gangliosides therapy showed a highly significant difference between the active and placebo group, still in favour of the subjects treated with gangliosides. It is concluded that gangliosides may exert a positive effect in the treatment of demential syndromes.