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Fast Breaking Comments

By Joseph R Calabrese, MD

ESI Special Topics, August 2002
Citing URL - http://www.esi-topics.com/fbp/comments/august02-JosephCalabrese.html

Joseph R Calabrese, MD answers a few questions about this month's fast breaking paper in field of Psychiatry/Psychology.

From •>>August 2002

Field: Psychiatry/Psychology
Article Title: "A double-blind, placebo-controlled, prophylaxis study of lamotrigine in rapid-cycling bipolar disorder"
 Authors: Calabrese, JR;Suppes, T;Bowden, CL;Sachs, GS;Swann, AC;McElroy, SL;Kusumakar, V;Ascher, JA;Earl, NL;Greene, PL;Monaghan, ET
Journal: J CLIN PSYCHIAT
Volume: 61
Page: 841-850
Year: NOV 2000
* 11400 Euclid Ave, Suite 200, Cleveland, OH 44106 USA.
* Case Western Reserve Univ, Univ Hosp Cleveland, Sch Med, Cleveland, OH 44106 USA.
* Univ Texas, SW Med Ctr, Dept Psychiat, Bipolar Disorder Clin & Res Program, Dallas, TX USA.
* Univ Texas, Hlth Sci Ctr, Dept Psychiat, San Antonio, TX 78284 USA.
* Massachusetts Gen Hosp, Bipolar Res & Clin, Boston, MA 02114 USA.
* Univ Texas, Hlth Sci Ctr, Dept Psychiat, Houston, TX USA.
* Univ Cincinnati, Coll Med, Biol Psychiat Program, Cincinnati, OH 45221 USA.
* Dalhousie Univ, Halifax Stanley Ctr, Halifax, NS, Canada.
* Glaxo Wellcome Res & Dev Ltd, Res Triangle Pk, NC USA.

ST:  Why do you think your paper is highly cited?

This is the first study of a homogeneous cohort of patients with soft spectrum bipolar disorder. All patients enrolled into this study were prospectively determined to present with a recent history of rapid cycling bipolar disorder.

ST:  Does it describe a new discovery or new methodology that's useful to others?

Design Employed: enriched placebo-controlled discontinuation maintenance design.

ST:  Can you give us some background on this research?

See the following articles for background research on this design:
Calabrese JR, Shelton MD, Rapport DJ, Kujawa M, Kimmel SE, Caban S: Current research on rapid cycling bipolar disorder and its treatment. J Affect Disord. 2001 Dec; 67(1-3): 241-55. Review.

Calabrese JR: Bipolar rapid cycling: Focus on depression as its hallmark. World J Biological Psychiatry 2001; 2:143S.

ST:  Could you summarize the significance of your paper in layman’s terms?

Patients with rapid cycling bipolar disorder present with a very hard to treat variant of illness. This study represents the first study to show that lamotrigine (Lamictal) is effective in the treatment of patients with rapid cycling bipolar II disorder. Patients with rapid cycling typically experience depression as a prominent feature of the illness and lamotrigine has been shown to be particularly effective in the acute and prophylactic treatment of depressive episodes (Calabrese et al 1999, Bowden et al In Press, Calabrese et al submitted).End

Joseph R Calabrese, MD
Director, Mood Disorders Program
Case Western Reserve University
School of Medicine
Cleveland. Ohio

ESI Special Topics, August 2002
Citing URL - http://www.esi-topics.com/fbp/comments/august02-JosephCalabrese.html

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