Donepezil Treatment of Psychotic Symptoms in Dementia Patients
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
1969-12-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Conventional psychotropic medications may be used to treat behavioral disturbances and
psychotic symptoms in patients with dementia and they are the drugs of choice for treating
delusions and hallucinations. However the sensitivity to side effects in these patients often
restricts the use of these agents (2, 3). Although, atypical antipsychotics have some
advantages compared with conventional neuroleptics, they also are associated with side
effects (5, 6).
Cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) enhance neuronal transmission by increasing the
availability of acetylcholine in muscarinic and nicotinic receptors. According to findings of
some researchers ChEIs have psychotropic effects and may play an important role in
controlling neuropsychiatric and behavioral disturbances in patients with Alzheimer's disease
(7-10). These agents may also contribute to the management of other disorders with
cholinergic system abnormalities and neuropsychiatric symptoms such as visual hallucinations
(11).
Donepezil is a piperidine-based reversible, noncompetitive ChEI, which is indicated in the
management of patients with Alzheimer's disease of mild to moderate severity (12-14).
Preliminary observations suggest the possible value of ChEIs in the amelioration of psychotic
symptoms in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT), dementia with Lewy bodies
and patients suffering from Parkinson's disease (11-18).
The results of our study (18) indicate that the addition of donepezil to perphenazine
resulted in qualitatively superior clinical gains compared to higher doses of neuroleptic
therapy without donepezil.
The finding of the pilot study although impressive, stem from data regarding a rather small
sample. The present (second) phase of the study will include a larger sample of patients. We
now intend to examine 80 inpatients, aged 65-90 years old, suffering from DAT.