ABSTRACT
To the best of our knowledge, there are no case studies of serotonin syndrome (SS) in patients with autism spectrum disorder. We report the case of a 33-year-old male who presented SS under the combined use of clomipramine and risperidone. More specifically, within 2 days after clomipramine (10 mg/BID-two times a day) was added to risperidone (4 mg/OD-once a day), mirtazapine 45 mg/OD and alprazolam (0,5 mg/TID-three times a day) he began to present mental, neurological and autonomic symptoms. All his psychopathological manifestations and laboratory findings normalized after the above-mentioned drugs' discontinuation, and the administration of supportive medical care and lorazepam 2,5 mg/TID. The diagnosis of serotonin syndrome was challenging due to the relatively low dose of clomipramine, an increase of risperidone which had taken place before clomipramine administration and clinical symptoms which could be attributed to both serotonin and neuroleptic malignant syndrome.
Subject(s)
Antidepressive Agents/adverse effects , Duloxetine Hydrochloride/adverse effects , Paroxetine/adverse effects , Restless Legs Syndrome/chemically induced , Antidepressive Agents/administration & dosage , Antidepressive Agents/therapeutic use , Depressive Disorder, Major/drug therapy , Drug Therapy, Combination/adverse effects , Duloxetine Hydrochloride/administration & dosage , Duloxetine Hydrochloride/therapeutic use , Female , Humans , Middle Aged , Paroxetine/administration & dosage , Paroxetine/therapeutic useABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To prospectively assess the efficacy of the selective serotonin inhibitor escitalopram on painful bone metastases, in combination with external beam irradiation. METHODS: Forty-three patients with cancer metastatic to bone and suffering from depression were treated with 3 Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy (3DCRT) (30 Gy; 3 Gy/fraction, 5 days/week) combined with escitalopram (20 mg/day). Pain relief was evaluated with Wong/Baker Faces Pain Scale. The patients reported outcome using a RTOG-EORTC quality-of-life self-questionnaire (QLQ-C30 v3.0) and the status of depression according to Hamilton Scale (HAM-17). The assessment was performed at baseline and 6-8 weeks after radiotherapy. RESULTS: Patients treated with radiotherapy and escitalopram tended to show a good response to pain and improvement of their quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: Though our data concerned a rather small number of patients, addition of escitalopram to 3DCRT accomplished a high clinical benefit rate on neuropathic pain from bone metastasis.
