Methodological Approach to the Clinical Evaluation of Nootropic Drugs

Numerous drugs have been suggested and employed for the treatment of cerebral insufficiency. They were variously classified without any indication of their particular features. Nowadays, nootropics have to be added to activators, neurody-namic drugs, cerebral protectors, psychoanaleptics, vasoactivators and metabo-lizers. From a theoretical point of view, a nootropic substance is likely to improve intellective functions even in absence of mental deterioration. From a clinical standpoint, we prefer to define the nootropic effect of a drug as “the therapeutic capacity of improving impaired brain performance following various neuro-pathological or age-related processes”.