Hostname: page-component-6565fbc58-sjvkb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-11T23:32:55.482Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Computed axial brain tomography in long-term benzodiazepine users

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

M. H. Lader ,
M. Ron  and
H. Petursson
M. H. Lader*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
M. Ron
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
H. Petursson
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Professor M. H. Lader Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Twenty patients who had taken long-term benzodiazepines were submitted to brain CT scan examinations. Some scans appeared abnormal. The mean ventricular/brain area measured by planimetry was increased over mean values in an age- and sex-matched group of control subjects but was less than that in a group of alcoholics. There was no significant relationship between CT scan appearances and the duration of benzodiazepine therapy. The clinical significance of the findings is unclear.

Information

Type
Brief Communication
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , February 1984 , pp. 203 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Balter, M. B., Levine, J. & Manheimer, D. I. (1974). Cross-national study of the extent of anti-anxiety/sedative drug use. New England Journal of Medicine 290, 769–774.Google Scholar
Jacoby, R. J., Levy, R. & Dawson, J. M. (1980). Computed tomography in the elderly. 1. The normal population. British Journal of Psychiatry 136, 249–255.Google Scholar
Lader, M. (1978). Benzodiazepines – The opium of the masses? Neuroscience 3, 159–165.Google Scholar
McNair, D. M. (1973). Anti-anxiety drugs and human performance. Archives of General Psychiatry 29, 609–617.Google Scholar
Petursson, H. & Lader, M. H. (1981). Withdrawal from long-term benzodiazepine treatment. British Medical Journal 283, 643–645.Google Scholar
Petursson, H., Gudjonsson, G. H. & Lader, M. H. (1984). Psychometric performance during chronic benzodiazepine treatment and withdrawal. Psychopharmacology (in the press).Google Scholar
Rickels, K. (1981). Benzodiazepines: use and misuse. In Anxiety, New Research and Changing Concepts (ed. Klein, D. F. and Rabkin, J. G.), pp. 1–26. Raven Press: New York.Google Scholar
Ron, M. A., Acker, W., Lishman, W. A. & Shaw, G. K. (1982). Computerized tomography scan changes in chronic alcoholics: a survey and follow-up study. Brain 105, 497–514.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tyrer, R., Rutherford, D. & Huggett, T. (1981). Benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms and propranolol. Lancet i, 520–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar