[Chronic treatment of schizophrenia with injectable bromperidol decanoate]

Abstract

A long-term open clinical study was made on nine schizophrenic patients, using injectable bromperidol decanoate in monthly doses. The dosage calculation was made from the haloperidol doses previously received by the patients, adjusted in each particular case, with a mean of 73 mg per application (range, 50 to 200 mg). The patients were seven males and two females with a mean age of 37,7 years, 11,8 years of evolution of the disease and 2,6 previous hospitalizations. The symptoms evaluation was based on the BPRS test, converting the impressions of professionals and patients on the ten symptoms into an arbitrary scale from 0 to 5 for their later statistical evaluation using the least-squares test. All the psychotic symptoms improved gradually and significantly due to the medication. The harmlessness of bromperidol was evaluated through complete blood and urine tests, which, repeated every month, showed no blood, liver, renal, etc. alterations due to the drug. Like all psychopharmacos derived from butyrophenone, bromperidol can cause collateral effects of an extrapyramidal type. These appeared in four of the nine patients, being tremors, sialorrhea and akathysia the most important ones. These were the only collateral effects. Two of the patients were also receiving phenothiazine and the four patients were well controlled by using trihexiphenidyl.