New developments on drug treatment rehabilitation

Increasing interest has been directed to role of pharmaceuticals in the recovery of cerebrovascular events. However, only few scientific studies are available to date, and further research is needed. Amphetamine is the most extensively studied drug shown to promote recovery of function, although clinical data have lead to conflicting results. Other psychostimulants drugs have been proposed, as levodopa or methylphenidate, even if published data are still few. Recently, two studies have been published about the positive role of cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil on stroke recovery. However, such data must still be confirmed by randomized controlled trials. Antidepressant drugs have shown to be effective not only in improving depressive symptoms in stroke patients, but also in decreasing, although partially, the negative impact of poststroke depression on functional outcome. Serotoninergic agents may have a role in improving stroke recovery, in a fashion that is not dependent on their primary antidepressant activity. Last, it is important to be aware that certain drugs as clonidine, prazosin, dopamine receptor antagonists, benzodiazepines, phenytoin, and phenobarbital could have a detrimental effect on the poststroke recovery.