[Treatment of pathological laughing with amitriptyline].
We investigated the efficacy of amitriptyline in seven patients with pathological laughing caused by cerebrovascular diseases. In a double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over trial comparing amitriptyline with placebo, 5 of these 7 patients were judged to have shown improvement with amitriptyline, and 1 patient improved with placebo. This difference was statistically significant. No significant side effect of amitriptyline was observed. There was no significant change between amitriptyline and placebo in both self-rating depression scale and minimental state test score. These results suggested that amitriptyline was useful in treating pathological laughing.
Ohkawa
S
S
Mori
E
E
Yamadori
A
A
D000368:Aged; D000639:Amitriptyline / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007845:Laughter; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D000639:Amitriptyline