Olanzapine for Huntington's Disease: An Open Label Study

Abstract

The aim of this prospective open label study was to assess the efficacy of olanzapine for motor symptoms in Huntington's disease (HD). Olanzapine was administrated to nine patients with genetically confirmed HD in increasing doses until satisfactory clinical effect or the appearance of side effects. The patients were evaluated at baseline and after 14 days of treatment using the motor scale of the Unified HD Rating Scale (UHDRS). The patients improved significantly in most subscores of the UHDRS, including fine motor tasks, although some patients needed a rather high dose (30 mg per day). No adverse effects were reported by the patents spontaneously or were observed directly by the investigator. High-dose olanzapine seems to be useful in choreatic HD patients. A double blind, placebo-controlled trial appears warranted to definitively establish the symptomatic value of olanzapine in HD.

Treatment of Huntington's Disease

“…Olanzapine has been used in small open-label studies to treat the motor symptoms of HD [79][80][81][82][83]. The range of effect on chorea has been a reduction of 0-66 %.…”

Tetrabenazine in Huntington's Disease Chorea

“…45 Atypical neuroleptics have had less success, for example clozapine showed poor results, 46,47 but there is some evidence for olanzapine. [48][49][50] Also it would be interesting to have comparative studies between TBZ and neuroleptics. Apomorphine at low dose may cause inhibition of dopamine release by dopaminergic autoreceptor stimulation.…”

Functional and motor response to low dose olanzapine in huntington's disease: case report

“…There are eight reports [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] describing the use of olanzapine in HD, and only three reports using the UHDRS for assessment [5][6][7]10 . Also, the studies and case reports published so far have dealt with either the motor, functional or behavioral symptoms 4,5,7,8,11 .…”