난치성 정신분열병환자에서 Alprazolam의 병용 투여 및 혈청 Prolactin치 변화

Adjunctive Administration of Alprazolam and the Changes of Serum Prolactin Level in The Refractory Schizophrenics

The purposes o f this study were to investigate the adjunctive effects o f alprazolam and the changes of serum P RL level in the refractory schizophrenics. The subjects were seventeen hospitalized chronic schizophrenic patients who met Kane et al，s(1988) criteria. The subjects were randomly assigned to two groups, alprazolam-placebo administration group and placeboalprazolam administration group. The duration of study was 13 weeks with a double-blind crossover design. The maximum dosage of alprazolam was 4.5lng/day and the schedule of alprazolam administration was conducted in 3 stages-the 1st stage was the period of dose increment of 2 weeks, the 2nd stage was the period of maintenance of 4 weeks and the 3rd stage was the tappering period of one week Clinical evaluation with Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) was done weekly on the double-blind method and checked the serum P R L level at the baseline, the end o f the 3rd and the 9th week The results were as follows : 1) Alprazolam administration did not show any statistically significant differences in total BPRS scores but showed statistically significant reduction of the scores in the subscales of anxiety, emotional withdrawal, psychomotor retardation and conceptual disorganization compared with plcebo administration. 2) There was no significant relationship in the serum prolactin level because alprazolm and also placebo administration increased the serum prolaction level. 3) In the future, this kind of study should be done in more homogenous group of patients and try to find out any biological markers, indicating therapeuic effects. So that alprazolam could be tried for some refractory schizophrenics.