Title |
Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors (AChEI's) for the treatment of visual hallucinations in schizophrenia: A review of the literature
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Published in |
BMC Psychiatry, September 2010
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DOI | 10.1186/1471-244x-10-69 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Sachin S Patel, Azizah Attard, Pamela Jacobsen, Sukhi Shergill |
Abstract |
Visual hallucinations occur in various neurological diseases, but are most prominent in Lewy body dementia, Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia. The lifetime prevalence of visual hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia is much more common than conventionally thought and ranges from 24% to 72%. Cortical acetylcholine (ACh) depletion has been associated with visual hallucinations; the level of depletion being related directly to the severity of the symptoms. Current understanding of neurobiological visual processing and research in diseases with reduced cholinergic function, suggests that AChEI's may prove beneficial in treating visual hallucinations. This offers the potential for targeted drug therapy of clinically symptomatic visual hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia using acetylcholinesterase inhibition. |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 1 | 4% |
Unknown | 24 | 96% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 6 | 24% |
Student > Master | 5 | 20% |
Student > Bachelor | 4 | 16% |
Researcher | 3 | 12% |
Student > Postgraduate | 2 | 8% |
Other | 2 | 8% |
Unknown | 3 | 12% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Medicine and Dentistry | 8 | 32% |
Psychology | 5 | 20% |
Neuroscience | 2 | 8% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 2 | 8% |
Arts and Humanities | 1 | 4% |
Other | 2 | 8% |
Unknown | 5 | 20% |