title: Treatment of behavioral and psychological symptoms of Alzheimer-type dementia with Yokukansan in clinical practice.
abstract: The efficacy and safety of the kampo medicine Yokukansan (YKS, TJ-54) in the treatment of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) were investigated in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) in an open-label study. This study included 26 patients who had been diagnosed as having AD and were not treated with donepezil hydrochloride. These patients were administered YKS (7.5g/day) for four weeks to investigate the changes in neuropsychological test results and care burden in the period from the start to completion of the study treatment. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) was used for evaluation of BPSD, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for evaluation of cognitive functions, the Zarit burden interview for evaluation of the caregiver's burden, Disability Assessment of Dementia (DAD) for evaluation of activities of daily living (ADL) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) for evaluation of the caregiver's depression. No significant change was seen in MMSE and DAD after four weeks of treatment, but the mean NPI total score decreased significantly. Furthermore, among the NPI subscales, a statistically significant decrease in score was not seen, however, a clinically significant decrease was seen in terms of hallucinations, agitation, anxiety, irritability or abnormal behavior. No significant changes were seen in caregiver's burden after four weeks of treatment. No serious adverse reactions to YKS were observed. The results of this study suggested that YKS may be an effective and well-tolerated drug in the treatment of BPSD in AD patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, 5200 Kihara, Kiyotake-cho, Miyazaki, 889-1692, Japan. yoshih@fc.miyazaki-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoshihito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.forename: Teruhiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Mitsutaka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Udagawa
authors.forename: Kouzou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshimuta
authors.forename: Kouichirou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kiue
authors.forename: Yoshimasa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ninomiya
authors.forename: Jiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kawano
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sameshima
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawahara
authors.forename: Isamu
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shudo
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kurayama
authors.forename: Jungo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okahara
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mitsuyama
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D001526:Behavioral Symptoms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology*; D000077265:Donepezil; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007189:Indans / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D018697:Nootropic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010880:Piperidines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D007189:Indans; D018697:Nootropic Agents; D010880:Piperidines; C524644:Yi-Gan San; D000077265:Donepezil