‘Dementia link to sudden low blood pressure and dizziness’
October 13, 2024
People with vascular dementia are being asked to take part in a Belfast-based clinical trial into a possible new treatment of the disease.
Vascular dementia is caused by problems with the blood supply to the brain and affects more than 18,000 people in Northern Ireland.
There are currently no licensed medicines to treat it.
The Queen’s University, Belfast, trial is investigating whether a drug called amlodipine has a beneficial effect.
Amlodipine is a common blood pressure medicine that could become the first ever treatment for vascular dementia, if the trial is positive.
Professor Peter Passmore from Queen’s University said: “The trial will be crucial in establishing whether amlodipine improves patients’ symptoms and quality of life, by delaying progression of the disease,” he said.
“Amlodipine is already used to treat other conditions, like high blood pressure, so could quickly become available for subcortical ischaemic vascular dementia if proven to be effective and safe.
“We are calling on local people living with vascular dementia to take part and help find the first ever treatment for the disease.”
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) Northern Ireland and the Alzheimer’s Society are together funding over £2.25m for the Queen’s University researchers to carry out the clinical trial.
Source BBC News