Biomedical subjects
A Gulya
Publications and source records attributed to A Gulya.
Treatment of behavioral problems with pindolol.
A study was conducted on a group of chronically hospitalized, brain-damaged male patients to assess the effectiveness of treatment with pindolol on behavioral problems. The study was conducted in two parts. The first was a double-blind, placebo-controlled analysis of the effect of pindolol on assaultive behavior, both verbal and physical. The second part was open and sought to determine whether pindolol would diminish such behaviors as resistance to care, sexual preoccupation, or provocation of others, which were sufficient to preclude placement at a lower level of care. These target behaviors and nursing interventions were monitored and clinical global assessments of improvement in behavior and of suitability for lower levels of care were developed. Eight of 13 patients were considered improved. Those with significant premorbid personality disorders showed little benefit. Pindolol appears to ameliorate some management problems and, by inference, improve the quality of life in many patients with behavioral pathology due to organic brain disease.
Effect of pindolol administration on serum levels of thioridazine, haloperidol, phenytoin, and phenobarbital.
Twenty-six male patients with intermittent explosive disorder secondary to organic brain disease were studied. Each had been treated with long-term administration of thioridazine, haloperidol, phenytoin, and/or phenobarbital, either singly or in combination. The effect of adding increasing doses of pindolol--a beta-adrenergic blocking agent previously demonstrated to be effective in the treatment of intermittent explosive disorder--on serum levels of each long-term medication was determined. Moderate, dose-related increases in serum levels of thioridazine and two of its metabolites were found when pindolol was added. Conversely, higher-than-expected serum pindolol levels occurred in patients receiving thioridazine. No serum level increases were found for haloperidol, phenytoin, or phenobarbital when pindolol was added to each of these drugs individually, but serum phenytoin levels did rise in two patients receiving all three drugs simultaneously when pindolol was added. Three treatment failures with pindolol occurred in association with low serum pindolol levels.