Pharmacotherapeutic treatment of panic disorder in patients presenting with chest pain

While psychiatric populations with panic disorder have been shown to be responsive to several classes of psychoactive medications, there is little evidence that medical patients with panic disorder respond to similar interventions. In this non-blind, eight-week trial of alprazolam in patients presenting with chest pain and found to have panic disorder, 15 of 20 met the single criterion for improvement: a 50 percent or greater reduction in panic frequency. Several other measures were also significantly positive for those who completed the study. Furthermore, these patients reported a marginally significant drop in episodes of chest pain or discomfort. A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial is now required to test the validity of these findings.