[Buspirone chlorhydrate in the treatment of cerebellar ataxia]

To evaluate the efficiency of buspirone chlorhydrate in a group of patients who all presented sporadic or family primary cerebellar ataxia.

In this open label study of addiction, the following eligibility criteria were used: 1) Clinical: primary cerebellar ataxia; 2) Radiological: nuclear magnetic resonance showing pure cerebellar cortical atrophy; 3) Age: over 20 years old. Any patient with a history of food deficiency, alcoholism, neoplasic, infectious, degenerative and vascular diseases was excluded from taking part in the study. Of the 20 patients examined initially, 18 met the eligibility criteria, and of these 11 reached the end of the study, although drop outs were not related to treatment. Four patients had been diagnosed as suffering from cerebellar cortical atrophy of the sporadic type and the remaining seven had a family type cerebellar cortical atrophy. All the patients were thoroughly evaluated and received scores both at the beginning and at the end of the study, according to the modified Massaquoi scale for clinical evaluation of cerebellar functioning, and the Hamilton Anxiety Scale. They were all administered buspirone chlorhydrate in doses that progressively increased by 5 mg/month over a total period of 12 months. The maximum dose was considered to be 1 mg/kg body weight, without exceeding 60 mg. The increase in dosage was stopped if it was not well tolerated by the patient