Treatment of alcohol withdrawal: tiapride and carbamazepine versus clomethiazole. A pilot study

In Germany, clomethiazole (CLO) and benzodiazepines are predominantly used as therapeutic agents in the treatment of the alcohol withdrawal syndrome ( AWS). These agents have disadvantages such as sedation, risk of respiratory insufficiency, and cardiovascular complications as well as addictive poten tial. Alternatively, it could be demonstrated that both tiapride (TIA) and carbamazepine (CBZ) are efficient in the treatment of AWS with less toxicit y. However, they seem to be less effective in AWS than CLO as single agents . But no systematic comparison of the combination of TIA and CBZ against an established therapeutic standard can be found in the literature. Therefore , we compared the combination of TIA and CBZ with CLO in two open explorato ry studies with matched samples. Outcome parameters were heart rate, blood pressure, complications, withdrawal symptoms (CIWA-Ar scale), and general c linical state (CGI scale). A retrospective evaluation of medical records (3 0 TIA + CBZ, 30 CLO) was followed by an open prospective study (40 TIA + CB Z, 40 CLO). Both studies revealed similar efficacy in terms of psychopathol ogic and vegetative symptoms. Vegetative recovery seems to be faster with T IA + CBZ. Results of this exploratory study have to be confirmed by a contr olled double-blind study with severity of AWS as an experimental factor.