Clinical experience with fluotracen HCL: report of a case

This article describes a depressed patient who experienced an excellent initial response to fluotracen, a new thymoneuroleptic. The patient then developed a syndrome of amphetamine-like hyperstimulation which necessitated discontinuance of the medication. Rapid, marked deterioration ensued. Hyperstimulation and agitation have not been described previously for fluotracen. Another group found that this drug is rapidly effective, even in treatment refractory patients, but that premature termination of therapy can provoke a rapid relapse; our experience confirms the earlier findings. We discuss fluotracen in relation to other neuroleptics and thymoleptics, and we suggest that comparative studies with thiothixene might be informative.