Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 108, Issue 10 , Pages 788-793, October 2009

Short-term Sulpiride Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Tourette Syndrome or Chronic Tic Disorder

  • Che-Sheng Ho

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Mackay Medicine, Nursing and Management College, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Hui-Ju Chen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Department of Pediatrics, Saint Mary's Hospital Luodong, I-Lan, Taichung, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr Hui-Ju Chen, Department of Pediatrics, Saint Mary's Hospital Luodong, 160 Chung-Chen South Road, Luodong, I-Lan 26546, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Nan-Chang Chiu

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Mackay Medicine, Nursing and Management College, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Ein-Yiao Shen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Graduate Institute of Acupuncture Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Hung-Chi Lue

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, Saint Mary's Hospital Luodong, I-Lan, Taichung, Taiwan

Received 13 March 2009; received in revised form 18 March 2009; accepted 31 March 2009.

Article Outline

Background/Purpose

Tourette syndrome (TS) is characterized by motor and vocal tics, and its diagnosis is based on clinical criteria. Dopamine-blocking neuroleptics are regarded as the most effective drugs for the treatment of TS. Sulpiride is a selective dopamine D2 antagonist. However, only one study with a large number of patients has reported the effect of treatment of TS with sulpiride. The purpose of this study was to evaluate prospectively the effect of sulpiride treatment of children and adolescents with TS or chronic tic disorder.

Methods

The inclusion criteria were patients who fulfilled the diagnosis of TS or chronic tic disorder, and who had not received previous treatment. The severity of TS was assessed by the Yale Global Tic Severity Score (YGTSS) every 2 weeks for a total of 6 weeks. The patients started treatment with low-dose sulpiride according to their age on the first visit. The adverse effects of sulpiride were evaluated by subjective complaints from the patients themselves or their parents. The change in scores between each assessment point was analyzed by repeated measures one-way analysis of variance, with SPSS version 12.0 software.

Results

One hundred and eighty-nine patients were enrolled. Their average age was 8.0 ± 2.5 years (range, 3–15 years). Most patients were male (n = 165, 87.3%). Six weeks' treatment significantly improved motor tics (p < 0.05), vocal tics (p < 0.05) and total YGTSS (p < 0.05). The most commonly encountered adverse effect was sedation (n = 31, 16.4%).

Conclusion

Sulpiride is effective for short-term treatment of children and adolescents with TS or chronic tic disorder, and has few adverse effects.

Key Words:  sulpiride , tics , Tourette syndrome

No full text is available. To read the body of this article, please view the PDF online.

 

Back to Article Outline

References 

  1. Singer HS . Tourette's syndrome: from behaviour to biology . Lancet Neurol . 2005;4:149–159
  2. Jankovic J . Tourette's syndrome . N Engl J Med . 2001;345:1184–1192
  3. Chappell PB , Scahill LD , Leckman JF . Future therapies of Tourette syndrome . Neurol Clin North Am . 1997;15:429–450
  4. Shapiro AK , Shapiro E , Eisenkraft GJ . Treatment of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome with clonidine and neuroleptics . Arch Gen Psychiatry . 1983;40:1235–1240
  5. Robertson MM , Schnieden V , Lees AJ . Management of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome using sulpiride . Clin Neuropharmacol . 1990;13:229–235
  6. Leckman JF , Riddle MA , Hardin MT . The Yale Global Tic Severity Scale: initial testing of a clinician-rated scale of tics severity . J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry . 1989;28:566–573
  7. Robertson MM . Tourette syndrome, associated conditions and the complexities of treatment . Brain . 2000;123:425–462
  8. Eggers C , Rothenberger A , Berghaus U . Clinical and neurobiological findings in children suffering from tic disease following treatment with tiapride . Eur Arch Psychiatry Neurol Sci . 1988;237:223–229
  9. Sallee FR , Nesbitt L , Jackson C , et al.   Relative efficacy of haloperidol and pimozide in children and adolescents with Tourette's disorder . Am J Psychiatry . 1997;154:1057–1062
  10. George MS , Trimble MR , Robertson MM . Fluvoxamine and sulpiride in comorbid obsessive–compulsive disorder and Gilles de la Tourette syndrome . Hum Psychopharmacol . 1993;8:327–334
  11. Sallee FR , Kurlan R , Goetz CG , et al.   Ziprasidone treatment of children and adolescents with Tourette's syndrome: a pilot study . J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry . 2000;39:292–299
  12. Bruggeman R , van der Linden C , Buitelaar JK , et al.   Risperidone versus pimozide in Tourette's disorder: a comparative double-blind parallel-group study . J Clin Psychiatry . 2001;62:50–56
  13. Scahill L , Leckman JF , Schultz RT , et al.   A placebo-controlled trial of risperidone in Tourette syndrome . Neurology . 2003;60:1130–1135
  14. Messiha FS . Biochemical pharmacology of Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome . Neurosci Biobehav Rev . 1988;12:295–305
  15. Chappell PB , Leckman JF , Riddle MA . The pharmacologic treatment of tic disorders . Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am . 1995;4:197–216
  16. Leckman JF . Tourette's syndrome . Lancet . 2002;360:1577–1586
  17. Yvonneau M , Bezard P . Apropos of a case of Gilles de la Tourette's disease blocked by sulpiride. Psycho-biological study . Encephale . 1970;59:439–459
  18. Jankovic J . Tourette's syndrome . N Engl J Med . 2001;345:1184–1192

PII: S0929-6646(09)60406-X

doi:10.1016/S0929-6646(09)60406-X

Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 108, Issue 10 , Pages 788-793, October 2009

Article Tools