The effect of Aricept in persons with persistent memory disorder following traumatic brain injury: a pilot study

To investigate the effectiveness of donepezil hydrochloride (Aricept) in treating persistent memory deficits in people with traumatic brain injury.

Single subject ABAC design was used so that each participant could serve as their own control.

Seven TBI survivors with persistent memory dysfunction, at least 1.5 years post-injury, underwent two 6-month trials of Aricept. The following tests were used to assess memory and cognition: Brief Visual Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R), Hopkins Verbal Learning Test, Digit Span and Letter Number Sequence sub-test of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III, Controlled Oral Word Association Test and Memory Functioning Questionnaire.

During the first treatment phase, participants received 5 mg/day of Aricept for 1 month, increasing to 10 mg/day of Aricept for an additional 5 months. During the second treatment phase, participants received 5 mg/day of Aricept for the entire 6 months.

A repeated measures analysis of variance indicated significant improvement on immediate and delayed memory portions of the BVMT-R when taking 10 mg/day of Aricept.

Findings contribute to the growing body of research into the use of Aricept in treating memory deficits in TBI survivors and support the need for further research.