Extrapyramidal Disorders After Prolonged Phenothiazine Therapy

Abstract

Motor disorders occurring in association with phenothiazine therapy have been widely appreciated and investigated since the advent of these drugs in the early nineteen-fifties. Published works have indicated that between 20 and 40 per cent of patients treated with phenothiazines exhibit signs of extrapyramidal dysfunction (Denham, 1961; Ayd, 1961). However, the relationship between treatment variables and the frequency of these motor disorders is not a simple one. Many factors are likely to have aetiological significance, and it seems that their occurrence is more a reflection of personal idiosyncrasy than of chemical structure, dosage or duration of treatment ( Lancet , 1964).