抗認知症薬（抗アルツハイマー病薬）

Anti-Dementia Drugs (Anti-Alzheimer's Disease Drugs)

アルツハイマー病（Alzheimer's disease：AD）の主病態である認知症に対する薬物療法［抗認知症薬（抗AD薬）］は症状改善薬と疾患修飾薬（現在開発中）に分類される。本論では，現在使用可能な症状改善薬4剤［コリンエステラーゼ阻害薬（ドネぺジル，ガランタミン，リバスチグミン）およびN-メチル-D-アスパラギン酸（NMDA）受容体拮抗薬（メマンチン）］の使用の実際や使用上の注意点などについて解説した。

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) treatment includes both non-pharmacological and pharmacological approaches. Current pharmacological approaches include symptomatic and disease-modifying therapies (DMTs). In Japan, DMTs have not yet been approved for treating AD; however, four drugs are currently available for symptomatic therapies, including cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) such as donepezil for mild-to-severe dementia, galantamine and rivastigmine for mild-to-moderate dementia, and memantine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, for moderate-to-severe dementia. In this review, we describe the use of four symptomatic anti-AD drugs in clinical practice for AD.