Drugs used to treat clinical depression and Alzheimer's could also help people recover from strokes, according to a recent review.

However, according to researchers from Loyola University, there are conflicting findings from studies of these and other drugs given to recovering stroke patients. Large, well-designed studies are needed before any drug can be recommended routinely for stroke recovery.

"These medications have not yet been clearly proven to be of benefit to patients recovering from strokes," neautologist Dr. Xabier Beristain said in a statement.

Beristain and his colleague Esteban Golombievski analyzed 56 clinical trials of SSRIs, which ae typically used as antidepressants in the treatment of major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders, and found that that they appeared to improve dependence, disability, neurological impairment, anxiety and depression after stroke. However, these findings should be taken with caution because the studies have different designs. Several additional clinical trials now underway are evaluating the use of antidepressants to enhance stroke recovery.

The two researchers also revealed that there is growing evidence that Alzheimer's disease drugs called acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (including Aricept, Exelon and Razadyne) can improve aphasia in stroke patients. A second type of Alzheimer's medication under study is memantine (Namenda). When used in combination with therapy, memantine has shown language benefits lasting at least one year when compared with a placebo. But clinical evidence of memantine for stroke recovery remains limited.

So far, most studies of these and other drugs used for stroke recovery have been small, employing different methodologies and time windows between the stroke and the clinical intervention.

"We need well-designed, large clinical trials with enough power to establish the usefulness of medications as adjuvants to rehabilitation before we can routinely recommend the use of these agents to enhance neurological recovery after stroke," Beristain and Golombievski wrote.

Their review is detailed in the journal Drugs & Aging.