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Clozapine Curbs Psychosis in Parkinson's Patients Thu May 13, 2004 05:20 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Low-dose clozapine is helpful in reducing psychotic symptoms brought on by drugs commonly used to treat patients with Parkinson's disease, French researchers report in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. Dr. Pierre Pollak of Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble and colleagues conducted a study of 60 patients with Parkinson's disease. The first stage consisted of a 4-week period during which patients were randomly assigned to receive a daily dose of 12.5 to 50 mg of clozapine or placebo (an inactive drug). This was followed by a 12-week period in which the remaining 55 patients received clozapine. The patients were then followed for another month after drug discontinuation. At the end of the first phase, patient test scores had improved in the treatment group, but not in the placebo group. At the end of the second period, 25 patients had completely recovered from hallucinations and delusions. However, 19 relapsed within one month of stopping clozapine. The rate of adverse events did not differ between active treatment and placebo groups, but drowsiness was seen more often in clozapine patients. SOURCE: Reuters Health http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=5138346 * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn