Rebekah P Nash1, Marc S Weinberg2, Sarah L Laughon3, Rebecca Carlson McCall4, James R Bateman5, Donald L Rosenstein3. 1. Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Electronic address: rebekah_nash@med.unc.edu. 2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. 3. Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. 4. Health Sciences Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. 5. VISN 6 Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC), Salisbury VA Medical Center, Salisbury, NC 27101; Department of Neurology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27101.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an increasingly common cause of behavioral and emotional dysregulation among hospitalized patients. While consultation-liaison psychiatrists are often called to help manage these behaviors, acute pharmacological management guidelines are limited. OBJECTIVE: Conduct a systematic review to determine which pharmacological measures are supported by the literature for targeting agitation and aggression in the acute time period following a TBI. METHODS: In a systematic review of MEDLINE, Embase, PsycInfo, ClinicalTrials.gov and the Cochrane Library, we identified and then analyzed publications that investigated the pharmacological management of behavioral and emotional dysregulation following a TBI during the acute time period following injury. RESULTS: There were a limited number of high quality studies that met our inclusion criteria, including only five randomized controlled trials. The majority of the literature identified consisted of case reports or case series. Trends identified in the literature reviewed suggested that amantadine, propranolol, and anti-epileptics were the best supported medications to consider. For many medication classes, the time of medication initiation and duration of treatment, relative to the time of injury, may impact the effect observed. CONCLUSIONS: The pharmacological management of agitated patients immediately following a TBI is still an area of much-needed research, as there is limited data-driven guidance in the literature.
BACKGROUND:Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an increasingly common cause of behavioral and emotional dysregulation among hospitalized patients. While consultation-liaison psychiatrists are often called to help manage these behaviors, acute pharmacological management guidelines are limited. OBJECTIVE: Conduct a systematic review to determine which pharmacological measures are supported by the literature for targeting agitation and aggression in the acute time period following a TBI. METHODS: In a systematic review of MEDLINE, Embase, PsycInfo, ClinicalTrials.gov and the Cochrane Library, we identified and then analyzed publications that investigated the pharmacological management of behavioral and emotional dysregulation following a TBI during the acute time period following injury. RESULTS: There were a limited number of high quality studies that met our inclusion criteria, including only five randomized controlled trials. The majority of the literature identified consisted of case reports or case series. Trends identified in the literature reviewed suggested that amantadine, propranolol, and anti-epileptics were the best supported medications to consider. For many medication classes, the time of medication initiation and duration of treatment, relative to the time of injury, may impact the effect observed. CONCLUSIONS: The pharmacological management of agitated patients immediately following a TBI is still an area of much-needed research, as there is limited data-driven guidance in the literature.