Comparing Haloperidol and Olanzapine in Treating Terminal Delirium
Status:
Not yet recruiting
Trial end date:
2024-05-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
As patients with terminal illness enter the dying phase, they may experience symptoms of
restlessness, agitation, or cognitive disturbance, known as terminal delirium. In community
care, pharmacological therapies are utilized to manage the syndrome, the most commonly used
being neuroleptics haloperidol and olanzapine.
However, there is currently a dearth of studies on the efficacy and safety between
haloperidol and olanzapine in the community palliative care setting; existing studies involve
non-terminal patients in the hospital suffering from acute delirium. To fill this gap, an
open-label randomized clinical trial is proposed to compare the effects of haloperidol and
olanzapine in the management of terminal delirium in home hospice patients who are imminently
dying. Key outcome measures are the reduction of delirium symptoms and the reduction of
agitation. Secondary outcome is comparing the adverse effect burden on patients.