ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article was to evaluate the effects of amisulpride on the behavioural and psychiatric symptoms of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this open-label study, we observed 18 outpatients affected by moderate to severe AD, complicated with agitation and disruptive behaviours. Behavioural, cognitive and motor effects of amisulpride at baseline and after 12 weeks were rated by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), Mini Mental State Examination, Clinical Dementia Rating Scale, activities of daily living, and the motor score of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. RESULTS: After treatment with amisulpride (200 mg/day), the patients showed a significant decrease in NPI total scores, particularly for the subitem 'agitation'. Cognitive and motor variables did not worsen significantly over the 12-week period. CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary observation suggests that amisulpride can be useful to control agitation and disruptive behaviours in AD patients without significantly effecting vigilance and motor activity.
Subject(s)
Alzheimer Disease/complications , Antipsychotic Agents/administration & dosage , Mental Disorders/drug therapy , Mental Disorders/etiology , Sulpiride/analogs & derivatives , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Aggression/drug effects , Alzheimer Disease/psychology , Amisulpride , Anxiety Disorders/drug therapy , Anxiety Disorders/etiology , Anxiety Disorders/psychology , Arousal/drug effects , Cognition/drug effects , Female , Humans , Irritable Mood/drug effects , Male , Mental Disorders/psychology , Motor Activity/drug effects , Neuropsychological Tests , Psychomotor Agitation/drug therapy , Psychomotor Agitation/etiology , Psychomotor Agitation/psychology , Schizophrenia, Paranoid/drug therapy , Schizophrenia, Paranoid/etiology , Schizophrenia, Paranoid/psychology , Sulpiride/administration & dosage , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
Typical cases of the most common kinds of headache can be diagnosed and treated by general practitioners (GPs). Non-traumatic patients with de novo acute sudden-onset disabling headaches as well as significant worsening of pre-existing headaches seek care at emergency departments (EDs) and represent a diagnostic challenge for the consultant neurologist, who is the specialist of reference for the entire diagnostic process. Explicit diagnostic criteria for the classification of headache disorders (ICHD-II) are fundamental for verifying the final diagnosis, but in the emergency setting diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines and recommendations, coupled with lists of diagnostic alarms and warnings, may further contribute to the preliminary identification of secondary headaches.
Subject(s)
Emergency Service, Hospital , Headache/therapy , Headache/diagnosis , HumansABSTRACT
We describe a woman with a long history of relapsing-remitting painful ophthalmoplegia in a seasonal pattern, due to an isolated orbital myositis that was--at our observation--classified in the context of the so-called SAPHO syndrome. She had been previously treated with corticosteroid therapy, but the association with immunosuppressive drugs produced a more prompt resolution of both the headache and ophthalmoplegia, and of the magnetic resonance imaging pictures of isolated myositis as well.
