Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0013421 (dystonia)
 8,418 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The introduction of atypical antipsychotics represents an important advance in the treatment of schizophrenia. As their therapeutic efficacy, tolerability and safety profiles are clearly superior to classical neuroleptics, atypical antipsychotic agents are considered to be the treatment of choice in first episode patients. In addition, an increasing number of patients are being switched from classical to atypical antipsychotic agents. Switching is especially relevant in patients with a poor therapeutic response to classical neuroleptics and persistent symptoms (positive symptoms, negative symptoms, depressive syndromes, cognitive deficit); in patients with a psychotic relapse despite compliance; in patients with important side-effects (not only acute and tardive extrapyramidal symptoms [EPS] and general side-effects, but also dysphoria or neuroleptic-induced deficit syndrome [NIDS]); and in patients who are non-compliant due to side-effects. Switching to atypical antipsychotics should be performed with extreme care in stabilised patients; or in patients who present a danger to themselves or others at relapse; or in patients who are on depot neuroleptics who were non-compliant to previous oral treatment. Switching requires careful planning to reduce the risk of withdrawal effects (neuroleptic withdrawal syndrome, cholinergic rebound, exacerbation of symptoms or relapse, rebound of parkinsonism, dystonia, akathisia, dyskinesia), which may mask the beneficial effects and lead to early discontinuation of the new treatment. Patients, family and carers should be actively involved at all stages, and educated about the possible benefits and problems associated with switching therapy. Cross-tapering old and new treatment is the preferred method for switching and this involves tapering off the previous antipsychotic agent and any adjunctive treatment (sedatives, anticholinergic medication), while gradually titrating the new atypical antipsychotic agent to the established therapeutic dose. Switching patients to amisulpride treatment offers effective antipsychotic therapy, with a positive effect on negative and depressive symptoms. Amisulpride treatment also results in improved quality of life and social functioning in addition to fewer relapses and days of hospitalisation during long-term follow-up.
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PMID:Switching to amisulpride. 1241 9

Antipsychotic drugs induce extrapyramidal symptoms such as dystonia, akathisia and parkinsonian symptoms early in treatment, and tardive dyskinesia later in treatment. With the advent of atypical antipsychotic drugs, the incidence of extrapyramidal symptoms has decreased, but the danger still exists. There are many reasons that extrapyramidal symptoms are still a problem. Most often, psychiatrists use doses higher than the recommended dose of atypical antipsychotic agents. For example, the use of 8 to 10 mg of risperidone, 30 to 40 mg of olanzapine, or 1200 to 1500 mg of quetiapine daily is not uncommon. In addition, combinations of both conventional and atypical antipsychotic drugs are used together in many instances. Extrapyramidal symptoms produce unnecessary suffering and add to the health burden; therefore, prompt recognition of these symptoms is necessary. If EPS occur, it is of paramount importance to start an antiparkinsonian agent immediately to provide relief to the patient. In high-risk patients, prophylactic antiparkinsonian therapy is indicated but routine prophylaxis with antiparkinsonian agents is harmful. As only a segment of patients may develop EPS, many patients receive prophylactic medication unnecessarily, and the side effects of antiparkinsonian drugs prescribed without clinical indication may add to the health burden of the patient. If prophylactic antiparkinsonian treatment is initiated, it should be discontinued at least two weeks after its initiation. The long term use of antiparkinsonian treatment is not therapeutically beneficial to the patient, and studies indicate that the gradual withdrawal of antiparkinsonian medication will not produce recurrence of EPS.
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PMID:The use of antiparkinsonian agents in the management of drug-induced extrapyramidal symptoms. 1528 99

The Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale (ESRS) was developed to assess four types of drug-induced movement disorders (DIMD): Parkinsonism, akathisia, dystonia, and tardive dyskinesia (TD). Comprehensive ESRS definitions and basic instructions are given. Factor analysis provided six ESRS factors: 1) hypokinetic Parkinsonism; 2) orofacial dyskinesia; 3) trunk/limb dyskinesia; 4) akathisia; 5) tremor; and 6) tardive dystonia. Two pivotal studies found high inter-rater reliability correlations in both antipsychotic-induced movement disorders and idiopathic Parkinson disease. For inter-rater reliability and certification of raters, >or=80% of item ratings of the complete scale should be +/-1 point of expert ratings and >or=70% of ratings on individual items of each ESRS subscale should be +/-1 point of expert ratings. During a cross-scale comparison, AIMS and ESRS were found to have a 96% (359/374) agreement between TD-defined cases by DSM-IV TD criteria. Two recent international studies using the ESRS included over 3000 patients worldwide and showed an incidence of TD ranging from 10.2% (2000) to 12% (1998). ESRS specificity was investigated through two different approaches, path analyses and ANCOVA PANSS factors changes, which found that ESRS measurement of drug-induced EPS is valid and discriminative from psychiatric symptoms.
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PMID:Manual for the Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale (ESRS). 1594 57

This naturalistic, observational pan-European study assessed the safety and early effectiveness of intramuscular (IM) psychotropic treatments in patients with acute agitation suffering from schizophrenia or bipolar mania. One thousand nine hundred and forty of 1945 patients completed the 24-hour observation period after initial IM treatment. Patients from 12 European countries were included (mean age 39 years; 58% male, 66% schizophrenia). IM treatment was at the physician's discretion. The primary objective was to describe the acute tolerability of IM psychotropic therapies in clinical practice, with particular emphasis on EPS. At baseline, 68% of the patients received IM monotherapy, with IM olanzapine most commonly prescribed (36%). During the first 24 hours, 190 (9.8%) patients experienced EPS. The occurrence of EPS was statistically significantly lower in patients treated with IM olanzapine compared to those treated with other IM psychotropic medications (mainly typical antipsychotics and benzodiazepines): acute dystonia: 1.1%, 95% CI 0.5-2.3 and 2.9%, CI 2.0-4.0; akathisia: 2.3%, CI 1.3-3.7 and 5.5%, CI 4.3-6.9; Parkinsonism: 2.9%, CI 1.8-4.4 and 7.8%, CI 6.4-9.4, respectively. Anticholinergic treatment was given to 12% IM olanzapine versus 31% non-olanzapine treated patients. Acute agitation after 24 hours was reduced by 1.68 (95% CI 1.46-1.91) points on the Clinical Global Impression of Severity (CGI-S) in IM olanzapine patients and 1.51 (95% CI 1.30-1.73) points in non-olanzapine patients. Additional psychotropic medication was required for 90% of the patients during the first 24 hours of treatment. Results provide naturalistic evidence for low EPS rates and improvement of agitation with IM psychotropic medications during acute states of patients suffering from acute mania or schizophrenia.
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PMID:A prospective, observational study of the safety and effectiveness of intramuscular psychotropic treatment in acutely agitated patients with schizophrenia and bipolar mania. 2062 29

Amisulpride, the newly introduced antipsychotic in India, is claimed to be effective in both positive and negative symptom schizophrenia and related disorders, though it has little or no action on serotonergic receptors. Limbic selectivity and lower striatal dopaminergic receptor binding capacity causes very low incidence of EPS. But, in clinical practice, we are getting EPS with this drug even at lower doses. We have reported three cases of akathisia, acute dystonia, and drug-induced Parkinsonism with low doses of amisulpride. So, we should keep this side effect in mind when using amisulpride. In fact, more studies are required in our country to find out the incidence of EPS and other associated mechanism.
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PMID:Extrapyramidal side effects with low doses of amisulpride. 2489 13