SHORT-TERM-MEMORY IN PARKINSONS-DISEASE AFTER WITHDRAWAL OF LONG-TERMANTICHOLINERGIC THERAPY

We assessed the short-term memory (STM) using the Visual Paired Associ ates and the Verbal Paired Associates test, and the motor status at th e end of 7.8 +/- 3.7 years of anticholinergic therapy in 22 nondemente d patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Eighteen patients managed to stop anticholinergic therapy. During anticholinergic therapy, STM in PD is significantly worse than in normal controls (CS). Two months aft er the withdrawal of anticholinergic drugs, the STM retest gain is sig nificantly greater in PD than in CS, and at that time STM in PD did eq ual CS levels. After withdrawal of anticholinergic therapy, thirteen p atients noticed a deterioration of motor function; the dose of levodop a had to be increased in seven patients. We conclude that in nondement ed PD patients, long-term anticholinergic therapy probably does not re sult in irreversible damage to STM, and withdrawal of long-term antich olinergic therapy is feasible in the majority of PD patients.