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Abstract
We investigated whether the lack of therapeutic response to long-term and adequate
neuroleptic treatment was due to a failure to achieve a blockade of cerebral dopamine
receptors. Six chronic schizophrenic and medicated patients (DSM-III-R diagnosis,
paranoid or disorganized type) were assessed with the Present State Examination and
the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. According to the Chouinard Rating Scale there
were little extrapyramidal symptoms, although no anticholinergic drugs were given.
Plasma levels of the neuroleptics were determined and found in the therapeutic range
or higher. Dopamine D2-receptor occupancy was determined with positron emission tomography using 11C-methylspiperone as ligand. There was a more than 95% blockade of the D2 receptors in the striatum. These results indicate that the lack of therapeutic response
and extrapyramidal side effects cannot be attributed to an incomplete blockade of
cerebral D2 receptors and that the pathogenetic role of these receptors can be questioned in
therapy-resistant schizophrenic patients.
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Article info
Publication history
Received in revised form:
October 3,
1990
Received:
July 2,
1989
Footnotes
☆This study was supported in part by Squibb BV (the Netherlands).
Identification
Copyright
© 1991 Published by Elsevier Inc.