Conclusions
A synthetic preparation of hemotoporphyrin was used intramuscularly and orally in 10 women patients with dementia præcox and 10 involution melancholia patients of the same sex.
None of the dementia præcox group showed any signs of improvement under this therapy. The catatonics became more negativistic and the paranoid patients more delusional, some of them having utilized the treatment procedure in their delusional formations.
One of the involution melancholia patients improved considerably. Three other patients showed a mild transitory improvement and the other six patients remained unchanged.
Slight variations in weight were noted after treatment in both the dementia præcox and involution melancholia patients.
There was a tendency to low basal metabolism values prior to treatment in the dementia præcox group. Insignificant changes were noted in the oxygen consumption rate during and at the end of treatment in both groups. There was a larger number of cases with relatively low blood counts prior to the institution of treatment in the involution melancholia group as compared to the dementia præcox group. Improvement in the blood picture at the end of treatment was noted in the involution melancholia patients.
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From the Hudson River State Hospital
Read at the Interhospital Conference of the New York Down-State Hospitals held at the Psychiatric Institute, April 19, 1935.
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Notkin, J., Huddart, V. & Dennes, B. Hematoporphyrin treatment in dementia praecox and involution melancholia. Psych Quar 9, 368–385 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01563814
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01563814