Does Memantine Improve Verbal Memory Task Performance in Subjects With Partial Epilepsy and Memory Dysfunction?

All subjects in the treatment group will be placed on memantine. The dosage of memantine will begin at 5mg once per day (qday), and increase by 5mg every week. The titration will continue over a period of 3 weeks until a goal of 10mg bid is reached. The dosing will increase slowly, to minimize the risk of side effects. The subject will then remain on memantine at 10mg bid for 10 weeks, until the conclusion of the first phase of the study. At the conclusion of the first 13 weeks, subjects will discontinue the treatment (memantine or placebo) and enter the open label phase.

In the control arm of the study, subjects will take one placebo sugar pill per day for one week, then increase to one tablet twice per day for the following 12 weeks. At the end of this phase of the study, subjects will enter the open-label phase (unblinded treatment with memantine).

Open label: When the blinded phase is complete (Weeks 1-13), all subjects will receive open-label treatment with memantine (Weeks 14-26). The dosage of memantine will begin at 5mg once per day (qday), and increase by 5mg every week. The titration will continue over a period of 3 weeks until a goal of 10mg bid is reached. The dosing will increase slowly, to minimize the risk of side effects. The subject will then remain on memantine at 10mg bid for 10 weeks, until the conclusion of the study. At the conclusion of the study, subjects will discontinue the treatment.