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A DOUBLE‐BLIND CLINICAL EVALUATION OF PENFLURIDOL (R 16 341) AS A MAINTENANCE THERAPY IN SCHIZOPHRENIA
Author(s) -
Vandecasteele A. J. A.,
Vereecken J. L. Th. M.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1974.tb08220.x
Subject(s) - placebo , maintenance therapy , medicine , haloperidol , rating scale , double blind , regimen , clinical trial , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , physical therapy , psychology , psychiatry , chemotherapy , alternative medicine , developmental psychology , pathology , dopamine
Twenty‐one female schizophrenics (age range 34–74 years) were included in a clinical study assessing the effectiveness of penfluridol as a basic maintenance therapy. At the start of the study, the patients, all of whom had been successfully maintained on penfluridol for at least 6 months, were divided into two comparable groups. Group I (ten patients) received penfluridol and Group II(II patients) placebo under double‐blind conditions for 6 months. Patients were evaluated using a 36‐item questionnaire, which was completed before and after 1, 3, 4 and 6 months of treatment. When at any time during the study a patient deteriorated, haloperidol in individually adjusted doses was added to her treatment regimen. By the end of the study, eight of the 11 placebo patients received additional haloperidol, whereas only three of the penfluridol patients did. Evaluation of the scores on the rating scale showed no significant differences between the two treatment groups. The trial confirmed previously gained experience that penfluridol is a very suitable drug for the maintenance therapy of chronic schizophrenic patients.