Forty patients with chronic cerebellar ataxia will be enrolled in a double-bind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.
By central randomisation, patients will take 50 mg of riluzole or placebo twice daily for 8 weeks.
Electrocardiogram routine laboratory tests and pregnancy tests will be performed before drug administration, after 4 weeks of treatment and at the end of the study (after 8 weeks of treatment).
At the same time points the International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS) for pharmacological assessment of the cerebellar syndrome will be administered to the two groups (riluzole and placebo) of patients. To guarantee the evaluation of the results in blind conditions, the neurologists who will evaluate the ICARS scores will be different from those who will deal with randomisation and follow-up of patients.
