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Biomedical subjects

L Franchini

Publications and source records attributed to L Franchini.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

How long should pindolol be associated with paroxetine to improve the antidepressant response?

A double-blind study was undertaken to investigate the period of treatment with the beta-adrenoreceptor/5-hydroxytryptamine 1A (5-HT1A) antagonist pindolol required to enhance the antidepressant effects of paroxetine. After 1 week of a placebo run-in period, 63 untreated major depressive inpatients were randomly assigned to three different groups. Group 1 received paroxetine (20 mg/day) plus placebo (4 weeks). Group 2 received paroxetine (20 mg/day) plus pindolol (7.5 mg/day) for 1 week and placebo for 3 weeks. Group 3 received both active treatments for the entire duration of the study (4 weeks). Clinical response was defined as a reduction of the score in the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) to 8 or below. Also, to preliminarily examine whether beta-adrenoreceptor blockade was involved in the action of pindolol, another group of 10 inpatients was treated in an open-label manner with paroxetine (20 mg/day) plus 50 mg/day of the beta-adrenergic antagonist metoprolol, devoid of significant affinity for 5-HT1A receptors. At endpoint, the incidence of treatment-emergent side effects did not significantly differ among the three groups. After 1 and 2 weeks of treatment, the two groups treated with paroxetine plus pindolol displayed a significantly greater response rate than the group treated with paroxetine plus placebo. At study completion, only the patients treated with pindolol for the entire period showed a significantly greater response rate (p = 0.05). HAM-D score were also significantly lower at endpoint in patients treated with the combination for 4 weeks (p = 0.00003). The group of patients treated with paroxetine and metoprolol exhibited a side-effect profile comparable to that of paroxetine alone. Response rates were also comparable. These findings support the efficacy of pindolol, but not of metoprolol, in accelerating the antidepressant effect of paroxetine and suggest that the administration of pindolol for the entire period of the acute treatment may increase the efficacy of paroxetine.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
PubMed1997

Long-term treatment of psychotic (delusional) depression with fluvoxamine: an open pilot study.

The aim of this open pilot study was to evaluate the efficacy of fluvoxamine in the continuation as well as in the maintenance therapy of delusional depression. Thirty patients with recurrent, unipolar depression (DSM-IV criteria) were selected who had at least one depressive episode during the 18 months preceding the delusional depressive index episode and were treated with fluvoxamine 300 mg/day. Twenty-five of them had a sustained response to this short-term treatment and agreed to enter into the 30-month follow up study. All participants completed the follow up period. No relapse was observed during the 6 months of continuation therapy. During the further 24 months of maintenance therapy, 80% of the patients remained well, whereas 20% (five out of 25) had a single recurrence. Based on these observations, fluvoxamine might be a promising drug for long-term therapy of delusional depression. Further controlled studies are required to confirm this finding.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

A double-blind study of long-term treatment with sertraline or fluvoxamine for prevention of highly recurrent unipolar depression.

BACKGROUND: We evaluated and compared the efficacy and safety of sertraline and fluvoxamine in a randomized, double-blind, parallel-group study during a follow-up of 24 months. METHOD: Sixty-four patients with recurrent, unipolar depression (DSM-IV criteria) who had at least one depressive episode during the 18 months preceding the index episode were accepted into the trial. Patients were randomly assigned to one of the two long-term treatment groups and evaluated monthly by trained psychiatrists, blinded to treatment option, on the basis of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. RESULTS: All patients completed the 24-month follow-up period. Sertraline and fluvoxamine showed an equal efficacy in preventing new recurrences. In fact, there was no significant difference in survival rates between the two medication groups: 7 sertraline-treated patients (21.9%) and 6 fluvoxamine-treated patients (18.7%) had a single new recurrence (z = 0.14; p = .88). Moreover, recurrence observed during maintenance therapies was less severe and/or of shorter duration than index episodes. CONCLUSION: Long-term treatment with sertraline or fluvoxamine has been shown to be effective for prevention of highly recurrent unipolar depression. The high tolerability of these compounds, together with their prophylactic effectiveness, has an important role in improving the quality of life of these patients.

1-Naphthylamine↗
PubMed1996

Fluvoxamine and lithium in long-term treatment of unipolar subjects with high recurrence rate.

We prolonged from 24 to 36 months a follow-up study of unipolar subjects with a high probability of recurrence treated with fluvoxamine (n = 32) or lithium (n = 32). During the extra observation period, two patients developed mania and were excluded from the study. There were no further recurrences in either the lithium or the fluvoxamine group. In our sample, previous prescriptions of tricyclics seem to predict a worse prognosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Double-blind controlled trial of sertraline versus paroxetine in the treatment of delusional depression.

OBJECTIVE: In this study the authors evaluated the efficacy and the tolerability of sertraline and paroxetine in the treatment of delusional depression. METHOD: Under double-blind conditions, 46 hospitalized patients who met the DSM-III-R criteria for major depression with psychotic features were treated with sertraline or paroxetine for 6 weeks. RESULTS: The response rates were 75% and 46% for sertraline and paroxetine, respectively. The dropout rate was substantial (41%) in the paroxetine group and was attributable to side effects. CONCLUSIONS: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors administered alone are useful in the treatment of delusional depression.

1-Naphthylamine↗
PubMed1995

A family study of schizotypal disorder.

Direct, blind interviews were used to study the risk for and prevalence of DSM-III-R Axis I and II disorders in 93 first-degree relatives of outpatients with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) and outpatients with other personality disorders. Risks for SPD (at a slightly loosened diagnostic threshold) and schizoid personality disorder were significantly higher in the families of probands with SPD. Schizophrenia was present only among relatives of probands with SPD, accounting for a morbid risk of 4.1 percent. Neither familial risks for mood and anxiety disorders nor the prevalence of other Axis II disorders significantly differed in the two groups of relatives. It is suggested that SPD is a familial disorder representing a phenotypic expression of liability to schizophrenia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Postoperative infections after neurosurgery and cardiosurgery: the value of labelled white blood cells.

Post surgical-infections in neurosurgery and cardiosurgery are infrequent, but potentially fatal complications. The aim of this study was to compare the utility of 99mTc-HMPAO white blood cells scintigraphy (WBCS) with traditional diagnostic approaches in post-surgical complications, in order to obtain timely demonstration of a current infection. We studied 23 patients with a suspicion of infection after major cardiosurgery or neurosurgery. Planar imaging was performed at 4 and 20 hours after injection of autologous white blood cells labelled with 99mTc-HMPAO. Eight patients underwent CT scan, but only in one case did CT findings lead to a clear definition of a bulky inflammation process of the chest. WBCS identified one or more sites of focal increased uptake of the radiopharmaceutical in 6 patients: five of these patients were scheduled for a "second look" surgical operation that confirmed the sites and extention of the primary infection, thus confirming the presence of an abscess. In 3 cases WBCS showed only a weak increase of focal uptake and in 14 cases there was no evidence of abnormal uptake. The absence of deep infections was confirmed at surgery or at clinical follow-up. Thus WBCS seems to be useful in evaluating patients with the clinical suspicion of infective complications after surgery.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

A 24-month follow-up study of unipolar subjects: a comparison between lithium and fluvoxamine.

The authors compared rates of new episodes in a sample of 64 unipolar subjects treated with fluvoxamine (n = 32) and lithium (n = 32) during a follow-up period of 24 months. Unipolar patients on lithium treatment had a worse outcome with a higher frequency of new recurrences compared with of new recurrences compared with patients on fluvoxamine during the course of preventive treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

A study of relapses in subjects with mood disorder on lithium treatment.

In a sample of 213 mood disorder subjects on long-term lithium treatment, we analyzed the recurrence indices of relapses during the prophylactic treatment period. The differences found in the recurrence rates were due to the current age and age of onset, duration of illness and polarity of the probands. The patients with personality disorders showed the worst relapse indices and could represent a group of mood disorder subjects with a bad outcome of lithium treatment.

Aging↗
PubMed1991

[The CT aspects of a case of chondromatosis of the temporomandibular joint].

The CT picture of a case of synovial chondromatosis of the temporomandibular joint is described. The distinctive feature of the case was the presence of ossified loose bodies surrounding the head of the condyle. Three-dimensional image reconstruction was also employed to obtain better overall visualization of the alterations.

Chondromatosis, Synovial↗
PubMed1989

[CT in the follow-up of rectal neoplasms].

CT-scans were performed in the follow-up of 124 patients surgically treated for rectal carcinoma. CT allowed direct visualization of possible local recurrences and infiltration of neighbouring structures chiefly muscles and bones; it can also prove post surgical abscesses, metastatic spreads to lymph nodes and other structures such as liver, lung and bones; many of these lesions cannot so quickly and safely be demonstrated by other investigations. CT is also very helpful in radiation therapy planning. A CT guided percutaneous fine-needle aspiration biopsy can discriminate post surgical fibrosis from initial recurrences.

Biopsy, Needle↗
PubMed1984

[Computerized tomography in the study of rupture of abdominal aneurysms].

The authors present the CT aspect of 3 patients with massive retroperitoneal hemorrhage, caused by leaking of aneurysms of the lumbar aorta (2 cases) and of the right iliac artery (1 case). CT is a first choice examination in studying suspect ruptured aneurysms; in fact it can show dimensions and place of the aneurysm, and it is also possible an exact evaluation of retro and intraperitoneal hematoma.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Familial concordance of fluvoxamine response as a tool for differentiating mood disorder pedigrees.

Concordance to antidepressant response in members of the same family is a common observation in clinical practice. However, few published data support this view; moreover families with affected members responder to the same antidepressant have been poorly studied. We have analyzed 45 pairs consisting of one mood disorder fluvoxamine double-responder proband and one first-degree relative with known outcome to fluvoxamine treatment. Among 45 pairs 30 (67%) were concordant for good response to fluvoxamine. In family pedigrees of concordant pairs we found a significantly higher distribution of bipolar forms in secondary cases than in families of non concordant pairs (14.9% vs 3.9% P = 0.039) suggesting that concordance to antidepressant therapy could select families with higher genetic loading.

Adult↗