[Memantine: the value of combined therapy]

The symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer's disease is currently carried out using a twofold therapeutic approach involving acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, whose mechanism of action is based on the selective inhibition of this enzyme, and memantine, which acts by blocking the pathological tonic activation of NMDA receptors. Both drugs have been approved for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and present a therapeutic indication spectrum that is shared in the moderate phase (MMSE: 10-20). Since both therapeutic approaches offer the same complementary mechanisms of action and share the same therapeutic indication over a wide symptomatic disease spectrum, the aim of this article is to review the existing evidence on the effectiveness of combined therapy so as to be able to discern its usefulness from the moment treatment begins.