Am J Psychiatry 1980; 137:1220-1222
Copyright © 1980 by American Psychiatric Association
Dialysis of schizophrenic patients: a double-blind study
JA Diaz-Buxo, JA Caudle, JT Chandler, CD Farmer and WD Holbrook
The authors designed a double-blind hemodialysis protocol consisting of
hemodialysis or sham dialysis twice weekly for 10 weeks, respectively. Four
patients were carefully selected and evaluated clinically and on the
Clinical Global Impression Scale. Three did not show any signs of
improvement, and one patient demonstrated questionable improvement but
decompensated after 12 additional weeks of hemodialysis. This preliminary
study does not confirm the hypothesis that hemodialysis is effective in
controlling psychotic symptoms. The authors consider other possibly
beneficial treatments for schizophrenia.
