Assessment of diazepam loading dose therapy of delirium tremens.

The efficacy of the diazepam loading dose method of treatment of delirium tremens was assessed in comparison with the traditional therapy. The experimental group and the control group comprised 51 and 45 patients respectively. The clinical institute withdrawal assessment for alcohol (CIWA-A) scale was applied to assess the intensity of the symptoms. Diazepam doses in the experimental group oscillated from 40 to 210 mg (mean 86.9 +/- 47.2 mg). The control group was receiving diazepam and other psychotropic drugs in divided doses. In the experimental group deliric symptoms were present from 2 to 24 h (mean 6.9 +/- 4.8 h), and in the control group from 2 to 123 h (mean 33.8 +/- 25.7 h). The results show a large efficacy of the loading dose method corresponding to substantial reduction of the psychosis duration (fivefold in comparison to the control group). The method proved to be safe, with no significant complications.

[Continuous attention in schizophrenic patients]. / Zaburzenia uwagi ciaglej u chorych na schizofrenie.

Continuous Attention Task (CAT) was applied in a group of schizophrenic patients (N = 35), patients with schizoaffective disorder (N = 17), major depressive episode (N = 14), chronic alcohol dependence (N = 16) and healthy volunteers (N = 31). Moreover, the patients were examined with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the intelligence test (DMI). The results of the CAT test were significantly better in the group of healthy subjects and depressive patients in comparison to the other groups. There were no differences in CAT test between the schizophrenic, schizoaffective and alcohol dependent patients. There were no differences in CAT between the depressive patients and the healthy subjects either. The differences in the CAT results could not be contributed to the PANSS scores. The depressive patients got higher scores on the logical multiplication scale (MN) and the analogy scale (AN) of intellectual ability test (DMI) as compared to the schizophrenic patients, and higher scores on the MN scale in comparison to the alcohol dependent subjects. It was concluded that the deficits in CAT scores could be connected with the deficits in intellectual functions.

[Treatment of delirium tremens with quick administration of diazepam]. / Terapia majaczenia alkoholowego metoda szybkiego nasycania diazepamem.

In this efficacy the study of diazepam loading-dose treatment of delirium tremens was evaluated in comparison with traditional therapeutic methods. Experimental and control groups consisted of 42 and 40 patients respectively. The severity of the withdrawal symptoms was evaluated from clinical status, in the experimental group CIWA-A score was also employed. Study results suggest high efficacy of the loading-dose method, which was characterized by significant shortening of psychosis duration (five times shorter in experimental vs. control group). The method turned out to be safe, no complications were observed during and after the treatment.

[Sudden cerebrovascular accidents in the District of Martin. The clinical picture and epidemiologic data]. / Náhle cievne mozgové príhody v okrese Martin. Klinický obraz a epidemiologické údaje.

The authors investigated stroke morbidity (incidence, prevalence) and mortality, established register, and analyzed the epidemiological situation of this disease in the Martin district. Precondition for this study has been in 35 years neurological following the stroke patients at four neurological out-patients departments of the district and their hospitalization at the Neurological Clinic in Martin. During the period from 1983-1986 559 patients with an average age of 64.1 +/- 12.8 years (the range being 4-97 years) were treated at the above institutions. During four years of the study the average incidence of the stroke was 108/100.000/year. The mortality of the group 45/100.000/year is, as compared with world-wide statistics, low and is due to the care devoted to stroke patients for many years. The calculated, so-called expected prevalence, is 920 +/- 147/100.000 and can be explained by the relatively low mortality. In the Turiec region there are some 1012 +/- 162 stroke patients. This number was obtained by calculation for the number of inhabitants of the Martin District.