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RATIONALE FOR NEUROPROTECTIVE DRUGS IN
ASSOCIATION WITH WBRT
• The pathogenesis of the radiation-induced damage could be
similar to that of the small vessel disease of vascular dementia:
injury of the endothelium → accelerated atherosclerosis →
chronic ischemia
↓
To investigate compounds with efficacy in vascular dementia
• Memantine is a non-competitive, low affinity antagonist of the N-
methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, which is activated by
glutamate, and has the potential to block the excessive NMDA
stimulation following ischemia.