title: Lorazepam and diazepam rapidly relieve catatonic signs in patients with schizophrenia.
abstract: The uses of lorazepam and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) have been proven to be effective in treating catatonia. In the present study a modified treatment strategy (i.e. lorazepam i.m. injection or diazepam infused i.v. if lorazepam failed, not with ECT) was proposed to rapidly relieve catatonic signs in patients with schizophrenia. During a 3-year period, 14 patients with catatonic schizophrenia in Chinese ethnic background Taiwanese were brought to the emergency unit of a general hospital. First, the patients were immediately treated with lorazepam 1 or 2 ampules (2 mg/mL per ampule) i.m. injection (IMI) during 2 h. Second, if the previous 2 ampules of lorazepam IMI failed, diazepam infused i.v. (10 mg/2 mL per ampule) in normal saline 500 mL every 8 h would be done during 1 day. The response rate of catatonic signs in these 14 patients with lorazepam IMI during the first 2 h was 85.7% (12/14). However, according to the results of this method, the total response rate to benzodiazepines during 1 day was 100%(14/14). These results suggested that this modified treatment strategy could rapidly and completely relieve catatonic signs, even without the use of ECT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Kaohsiung, Taiwan. a540520@adm.cgmh.org.tw
authors.forename: Tiao-Lai
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D003128:Coma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D003975:Diazepam / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular; D008140:Lorazepam / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009155:Mutism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D012560:Schizophrenia, Catatonic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D013624:Taiwan; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D008140:Lorazepam; D003975:Diazepam