Am J Psychiatry 1989; 146:996-1000
Copyright © 1989 by American Psychiatric Association
Responses to hypercarbia induced by acetazolamide in panic disorder patients
RJ Mathew, WH Wilson and S Tant
Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710.
CO2 inhalation has been reported to induce panic attacks in panic disorder
patients. State anxiety, somatic symptoms of anxiety, physiological
changes, and cerebral blood flow (CBF) were monitored in panic disorder
patients before and after intravenous injections of 1 g of acetazolamide
(13 patients) and saline (10 patients), given under double-blind
conditions. In spite of significant hypercarbia, as evidenced by increased
CBF in the former group, only one subject reported panic and even that
attack did not meet DSM-III-R criteria. There was only one significant
difference between the drug and placebo groups; the acetazolamide group
experienced significantly more dizziness.
