Use of aripiprazole in tardive dyskinesia: An open label study of six cases
Authors:
Rajaprabhakaran Rajarethinama; John Dziubaa; Suzanne Manjia; Albert Pizzutia; Leonard Lachovera; Matcheri Keshavanabc
| Affiliations: | a Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA |
| b Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA | |
| c University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA |
DOI:
10.1080/15622970902995612
Publication Frequency:
4 issues per year
Published in:
World Journal of Biological Psychiatry
First Published on:
02 June 2009
Subject:
Psychiatry;
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Abstract
Aripiprazole, a partial dopamine agonist has been reported to help reduce symptoms of tardive dyskinesia (TD). In a prospective, open label study of a series of cases, we examined the effectiveness of aripiprazole in reducing TD symptoms. Six clinically stable patients with schizophrenia or Schizoaffective disorder and a moderate to severe TD participated in this study. They were systematically cross-titrated from their current medication to aripiprazole and maintained for 16 weeks. The mean extra pyramidal symptom score measured by Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) improved from a baseline score of 15.8 to final score of 5 (paired t-test; P=0.0009). The severity of psychiatric symptoms remained unchanged. This study supports our hypothesis that clinically stable patients with moderate tardive dyskinesia who are under treatment with other first- or second-generation antipsychotics may benefit from switching to aripiprazole with a reduction of TD symptoms but with out any significant benefit in psychiatric symptoms. The results need to be viewed with caution and not considered as indicative of a viable treatment option for TD as this is an open label study, and a small sample size.
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| Keywords: Schizophrenia; schizoaffective disorder; antipsychotics; tardive dyskinesia; EPS |
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