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Risperidone therapy for post‐operative delirium in elderly patients
Author(s) -
OKUMURA Kazuo
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
psychogeriatrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.647
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1479-8301
pISSN - 1346-3500
DOI - 10.1111/j.1479-8301.2005.00103.x
Subject(s) - risperidone , delirium , medicine , intervention (counseling) , intensive care medicine , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychiatry
In elderly patients, post‐operative delirium can complicate the treatment of any underlying condition that requires surgical intervention. Two elderly patients who underwent surgical procedures for neoplasia developed symptoms of nocturnal delirium soon after recovery from general anesthesia. Risperidone therapy was initiated in both patients (0.5 mg/day in Case 1 and 0.2 mg/day in Case 2) and their mental states rapidly stabilized, enabling treatment of the underlying condition and resulting in good post‐operative progress. Both patients were discharged from hospital without symptoms. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first report of the successful use of risperidone in the treatment of post‐operative delirium.