Dialysis of schizophrenic patients: a double-blind study

The authors designed a double-blind hemodialysis protocol consisting of hemodialysis or sham dialysis twice weekly for 10 weeks, respectively. Four patients were carefully selected and evaluated clinically and on the Clinical Global Impression Scale. Three did not show any signs of improvement, and one patient demonstrated questionable improvement but decompensated after 12 additional weeks of hemodialysis. This preliminary study does not confirm the hypothesis that hemodialysis is effective in controlling psychotic symptoms. The authors consider other possibly beneficial treatments for schizophrenia.