Reactions 886 - 26 Jan 2002

O SRiluzole overdose

Memory disorders in a patient with Huntington’sdisease: case report

A 38-year-old woman with Huntington’s disease, who hadbeen prescribed riluzole to relieve chorea, developed aworsening of her pre-existing moderate memory deficits aftershe took an overdose of riluzole 2800mg (56 tablets) in asuicide attempt.

After taking the riluzole overdose, the woman was foundunconscious and she was admitted to hospital. She wasdischarged 3 days later. However, the next day, she developedsevere nausea and memory disorders. She was rehospitalisedand an examination showed that she was disoriented to time,place and situation. She also had severe attentional deficits andher short-term memory was severely impaired.

A cognitive assessment, performed after the overdose,revealed that the woman had almost complete anterogradeamnesia and extensive retrograde amnesia. Also, executivedeficits were evident, possibly mediated by worseningattentional and short-term memory functions, and tests toassess speed of information processing also showedsignificant deficits. Ten weeks after the overdose, all thesedeficits had returned to baseline or had improvedconsiderably.

Author comment: This case report suggests ‘that thecognitive effects of riluzole overdose were reversible, and hadno long-lasting impact on the neuropsychological deficitsrelated to HD [Huntington’s disease].’Bodner Th, et al. Intoxication with riluzole in Huntington’s disease. Neurology 57:1141-1143, 25 Sep 2001 - Austria 800880979

1

Reactions 26 Jan 2002 No. 8860114-9954/10/0886-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved