Management of acute anxiety syndrome with parenterally administered lorazepam.
After the preliminary successful use of injectable lorazepam in calming 20 patients who presented with acute anxiety crises, a formal study of 115 other such patients was carried out. All were seen either in a hospital emergency room or on an emergency out-patient basis in private practice. Treatment consisted of an initial intravenous injection of lorazepam (3mg) followed, if necessary, by up to three further injections within a 24-hour period. The result was usually dramatic: complete abolition or reasonable control of symptoms within 30 minutes in all but 2 patients. The major effect was relaxant and sedative; 62 patients slept following the injections. although 55 could be easily aroused, 7 could not. Of the other patients, 49 remained awake but relaxed; only 4 remained tense and were regarded as treatment failures. No significant side-effects or changes in vital signs were noted. The results support and extend those reported by other invesigators in a recent controlled, double-blind (but otherwise similarly conducted) trial.
Management of acute anxiety syndrome with parenterally administered lorazepam. After the preliminary successful use of injectable lorazepam in calming 20 patients who presented with acute anxiety crises, a formal study of 115 other such patients was carried out. All were seen either in a hospital emergency room or on an emergency out-patient basis in private practice. Treatment consisted of an initial intravenous injection of lorazepam (3mg) followed, if necessary, by up to three further injections within a 24-hour period. The result was usually dramatic: complete abolition or reasonable control of symptoms within 30 minutes in all but 2 patients. The major effect was relaxant and sedative; 62 patients slept following the injections. although 55 could be easily aroused, 7 could not. Of the other patients, 49 remained awake but relaxed; only 4 remained tense and were regarded as treatment failures. No significant side-effects or changes in vital signs were noted. The results support and extend those reported by other invesigators in a recent controlled, double-blind (but otherwise similarly conducted) trial.