Carbamazepine treatment of agitation in Alzheimer's outpatients refractory to neuroleptics

Abstract

Nine outpatients who met well-defined criteria for probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and who had significant behavioral agitation failed to improve with neuroleptic therapy and were subsequently treated with carbamazepine. Five patients showed a clear improvement, and one patient an equivocal response according to clinical evaluation and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale scores; those results suggests that carbamazepine may be useful to treat agitated AD patients who have not previously responded to neuroleptics and patients with other organic mental syndromes.