Clinical effectiveness of galantamine in patients with cerebral infarction by 3D-DTI.

3D-diffusion tensor imaging (3D-DTI) can be utilized to improve the diagnostic value for patients with early acute cerebral infarction. Galantamine is a common drug used in neurological diseases. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of galantamine hydrobromide injection in patients with cerebral infarction by 3D-DTI technique. A total of 59 patients were enrolled and divided into 2 groups. Each group of patients was divided into 3 different subgroups of corticospinal tract injury grade according to the fractional anisotropy (FA) value, with a total of 6 subgroups. The 3D-DTI was also applied at the follow-up in 4 weeks. The National Institutes of Health stroke scale (NIHSS), Fugl-Meyer assessment scale, Barthel index (BI), and FA in cerebral infarction and contralateral normal regions were measured before and after 14 days treatment among 6 groups. Patients with galantamine treatment (n = 30) was treated as the test group and patients with butylphthalide treatment (n = 29) was treated as the control group. In both groups, patients with different impairments were categorized into 3 subgroups by FA values assessed by 3D-DTI. NIHSS score, FWA score, BI score, and FA value of the patients in the galantamine group and the butylphthalide group showed an improvement on 14-day treatment (P < .05). Comparison between the 2 groups showed that there was no significant difference between the galantamine group and the butylphthalide group in terms of improvement in NIHSS, FWA, and BI scores in mild to moderate patients (P > .05), but in severe patients, the butylphthalide group was superior to the galantamine group (P < .05). For FA values, the 2 groups did not demonstrate significant differences in moderate to severe patients (P > .05), but the galantamine group was superior to the butylphthalide group in mild patients (P < .05). Galantamine showed better patient benefit than butylphthalide in terms of nerve repair, but butylphthalide showed better improvement at daily patient activities. Overall, galantamine has clinical value in the treatment of acute cerebral infarction. Similarly, FA values assessed by 3D-DTI are effective in evaluating the extent of patient injury.