Valproic Acid for Treatment of Hyperactive or Mixed Delirium in ICU
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2018-01-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Delirium is the most often encountered psychiatric diagnosis in the general hospital, with
incidence up to 85% in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting and with significant
consequences on patients' morbidity and mortality. Currently, although not FDA approved,
antipsychotics are often considered the first-line pharmacological treatment. However, there
can be limitations to their use, including side effects or lack of efficacy. Valproic acid
(VPA) is one of the alternatives at times used in such patients which from limited case
series data appears to be helpful and tolerated. VPA can provide relief from agitation that
poses a threat to the safety and recovery of the patient. Moreover, mechanistically it
addresses the neurochemical and cellular abnormalities inherent in delirium (it has
NMDA-antagonist, anti-dopaminergic, GABAergic,anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and histone
deacetylase inhibitor properties, among others). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the
efficacy and tolerability of the VPA in the first known to us randomized controlled trial.