The effect of milenperone on the aggressive behavior of oligophrenic patients. A double-blind placebo-controlled study

Abstract

The antiaggressive action and the side effects of a new neuroleptic, milenperone, were evaluated in 21 oligophrenic patients by means of a double-blind randomized pilot study in comparison with placebo. Only 3 patients appeared to be psychotic, 2 from the milenperone group and 1 from the placebo group. In this study, milenperone was added to the existing psychotropic medication as an adjuvant. The test substance was administered in a dose of 2 X 10 mg daily for 6 weeks. The results were evaluated by means of the Paranoid Belligerence Scale and the improvement of the target symptoms were visualized on the Visual Analogue Line. Although, in the last 3 weeks of the study, the aggressiveness scores had decreased more in the milenperone group than in the placebo group, the difference between both studied groups was not significant. This lack of clear result may probably be ascribed to the high standard deviations, together with the small number of patients per group. The severity and frequency of the side effects remained almost unchanged during the investigation and were independent of the substance administered: milenperone or placebo.