Successful treatment of agitation and aggression with prazosin in an elderly patient with dementia and comorbid heart disease

Greve, Matthew J.; DesJarlais, David; Ahmed, Iqbal Ike K.

doi:10.1016/j.jcgg.2015.06.001

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Postmortem studies also showed that the compensatory upregulation of postsynaptic alpha-1 adrenoceptor is linked with AD-related aggression [149,150]. Therefore, it has been proposed that reducing the activity of the overstimulated postsynaptic alpha-1 adrenoceptors may alleviate the aggressive behavior [151,152].…”

Section: Alpha-1 Adrenoceptor Inhibitor: Prazosinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management of Dementia-Related Psychosis, Agitation and Aggression: A Review of the Pharmacology and Clinical Effects of Potential Drug Candidates

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Along with cognitive decline, 90% of patients with dementia experience behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, such as psychosis, aggression, agitation, and depression. Atypical antipsychotics are commonly prescribed off-label to manage certain symptoms, despite warnings from the regulatory agencies regarding the increased risk of mortality associated with their use in elderly patients. Moreover, these compounds display a limited clinical efficacy, mostly owing to the fact that they were developed to treat schizophrenia, a disease characterized by neurobiological deficits. Thus, to improve clinical efficacy, it has been suggested that patients with dementia should be treated with exclusively designed and developed drugs that interact with pharmacologically relevant targets. Within this context, numerous studies have suggested druggable targets that might achieve therapeutically acceptable pharmacological profiles. Based on this, several different drug candidates have been proposed that are being investigated in clinical trials for behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. We highlight the recent advances toward the development of therapeutic agents for dementia-related psychosis and agitation/ aggression and discuss the relationship between the relevant biological targets and their etiology. In addition, we review the compounds that are in the early stage of development (discovery or preclinical phase) and those that are currently being investigated in clinical trials for dementia-related psychosis and agitation/aggression. We also discuss the mechanism of action of these compounds and their pharmacological utility in patients with dementia.

show abstract