engleski

Risperidone in psychotic combat related posttraumatic stress disorder: an open trial

Rationale Psychotic symptoms that frequently occur in combat related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) complicate its pharmacotherapy. We hypothesized that war veterans with psychotic PTSD, resistant to prior antidepressant treatment, would respond well to 6 weeks of treatment with the atypical antipsychotic risperidone, given as a monotherapy. Methods Twenty-six male war veterans with psychotic PTSD completed the 6-week inpatient treatment with risperidone (2-4 mg/day). Primary and secondary outcome measures included changes from baseline to endpoint (6 weeks) in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Watson's PTSD total and subscale scores. Clinical improvement and adverse effects were assessed by Clinical Global Impression Severity Scale (CGI-S), Clinical Global Impression Improvement Scale (CGI-I), Patient Global Impression Improvement Scale (PGI-I) and Drug Induced Extra-Pyramidal Symptoms Scale (DIEPSS). Results Treatment with risperidone for either 3 or 6 weeks in an open trial significantly reduced total and subscales scores in PANSS and Watson's, CGI-S, CGI-I, PGI-I and DIEPSS scales, when compared to baseline scores, in patients with psychotic PTSD. Conclusion Our preliminary data from the open trial indicates that risperidone decreased most of the psychotic and PTSD symptoms. Psychotic PTSD patients, unresponsive to antidepressant treatment, improved significantly after treatment for either 3 or 6 weeks with risperidone.

combat related posttraumatic stress disorder; risperidone; psychotic symptoms; war veterans; 6-weeks open trial

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