Persistent vegetative state after severe cerebral hemorrhage treated with amantadine: A retrospective controlled study

Amantadine is currently recommended for use in patients of posttraumatic brain injury with unconsciousness. However, the application of amantadine in consciousness disturbance after cerebral hemorrhage has only been rarely reported. This allows for a further exploration of the role of amantadine in the treatment of PVS resulting from severe cerebral hemorrhage. Retrospective cohort study from 1/2015 to 7/2019 in Beijing Chaoyang hospital. We included adult patients treated with amantadine after severe cerebral hemorrhage in PVS. Primary outcome was time of consciousness recovery and Glasgow Out Scale scores after 5 months from onset. We compared characteristics and outcomes to a control cohort. matched on age, Coma Recovery Scale-Revised score, volume and location of hemorrhage. Among the 12 patients who received amantadine treatment, 6 patients regained consciousness (50%) after 5 months of disease onset, but were still severely disabled. Besides, the time for regaining consciousness was within 3 months of disease onset. The remaining 6 patients were still in a PVS. Compared with the amantadine group, the consciousness recovery rate (50% vs 33.3%, P = .68) after 5 months in the nested control group was not significantly different. The awakening time for patients in the amantadine group was earlier than the control group (100% vs 25%, P = .03). In this study, amantadine can accelerate the recovery of consciousness in patients following severe cerebral hemorrhage. We recommend further randomized controlled studies to determine the efficacy of amantadine.