Variation in oro-facial tardive dyskinesia during depot antipsychotic drug treatment.

Oro-facial (tardive) dyskinesia, occurring in patients on long-term antipsychotic (dopamine antagonist) medication, can be suppressed temporarily by increasing the drug dose. Lowering the dose can exacerbate the condition. In patients receiving regular fluphenazine decanoate (FPZ) and flupenthixol decanoate (FPT) injections, characteristic profiles of the fluctuations in plasma level concentrations, occurring during the injection interval, have been demonstrated. The possible effects of these relatively predictable plasma level changes on the severity of oro-facial dyskinesia, and parkinsonism, were investigated. Regular assessment of oro-facial dyskinesia throughout the injection interval was carried out in six patients receiving FPZ and two patients receiving FPT. In both groups, changes were observed in the severity of oro-facial dyskinesia consistent with the expected effects of drug level fluctuations. The main implication of this finding is that, in investigations of tardive dyskinesia in patients receiving depot medication, ratings should be carried out at a standard time relative to injections.