[Clinical observation on effect of modified Daotan Decoction combined with small dose risperidone in treating chronic...

To evaluate the clinical efficacy of modified Daotan Decoction (DD) combining low dosage of risperidone in treating chronic schizophrenia patients of phlegm-dampness blockage type, and compare with patients treated with risperidone alone.

Sixty-five inpatients were randomly assigned to two groups, the treatment group (34 cases) treated with DD (with conventional dosage) one dose per day and risperidone 3.16 +/- 0.73 mg/d, and the control group (31 cases) treated with risperidone 5.11 +/- 1.27 mg/d alone, the course for both groups was 8 weeks. The effect was evaluated with positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS), and the adverse reaction was assessed with treatment emergent symptom scale (TESS).

There was no significant difference in the overall efficacy between the two groups, but the improvement of the negative symptoms, illness provocation and general psychopathologic condition was significantly better in the treatment group than that in the control group respectively (P < 0.05). Moreover, the adverse reaction was milder and less in the former than that in the latter.

The treatment of DD combined with low dosage of risperidone is effective on chronic schizophrenia and shows less adverse reaction.