Medical Terminology of Treating Schizophrenia

Article Summary

The article Clinical relevance of paliperidone palmitate 3-monthly in treating schizophrenia discusses how the mentioned injectable antipsychotic (PP3M) improves non-adherence and prevents relapses in schizophrenia treatment using four injections per year. Paliperidone, the active metabolite of risperidone, is an antagonist of the D2 and 5HT receptors (Mathews et al., 2019). PP3M is based on a previous formulation, PP1M, used as a deltoid or gluteal injection. The article provides numbers related to NNT for relapse prevention and NNH indicators, including akathisia, tremor, dyskinesia, and parkinsonism. In addition, the authors argue that treatment stability is indicated by remission and reduction in negative and positive symptoms. However, schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder that can also involve deterioration or incapacitation, meaning that other factors must be considered to achieve an adequate clinical response.

The article’s authors take those factors into account while evaluating PP3M. Aside from everything mentioned, Mathews et al. (2019) discuss the dosing frequency of the antipsychotic, compare it to oral antipsychotics, and analyze how the information provided can improve treatment options and patient selection. The authors use tables to present the research data on placebo, PANSS, psychopathology, hazard ratio, relapse time, extrapyramidal symptoms, anticholinergic use, and other significant factors. Overall, the article’s authors evidence supporting benefits of PP3M and encourage further studies on this topic.

List of Medical Terms

1. Paliperidone – brain-working medication.
2. Palmitate – salts and esters of palmitic acid.
3. Antipsychotic – a drug used to treat psychotic disorders.
4. Injectable antipsychotic – an antipsychotic administered as an injection.
5. Oral antipsychotic – an antipsychotic applied orally, usually in the tablet form.
6. PP1M – paliperidone palmitate formulation based on monthly injections.
7. PP3M – paliperidone palmitate formulation based on four injections per year.
8. Adherence – a patient’s compliance with medical advice.
9. Non-adherence – a patient’s incompliance with medical advice.
10. Relapse – deterioration after an improvement period.
11. Schizophrenia – a mental disorder related to abnormal interpretation of reality.
12. Treatment – the process of tending to a disease medically.
13. Injection – a method of administering a liquid using a syringe.
14. Metabolite – an endogenous compound formed in the processes of anabolism or catabolism.
15. Risperidone – an antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
16. Antagonist – a substance that can stop another substance’s effect
17. Receptor – a protein-composed chemical structure receiving and transducing signals that may further integrate into biological systems.
18. Deltoid – a thick triangular muscle located in the shoulder.
19. Gluteal – a gluteus muscle located in the buttocks.
20. Prevention – process of preventing a disease or illness from occurring; prophylaxis.
21. NNT – the number needed to treat; a measurement of the medicine impact based on the number of patients needed to be treated to impact one person.
22. NNH – the number needed to harm; an epidemiological measurement indicating the number of people that need to be exposed to a particular risk factor to negatively impact one person.
23. Akathisia – a movement disorder that makes people struggle with standing still.
24. Tremor – involuntary rhythmic muscle contractions make one or several body parts shake.
25. Dyskinesia – involuntary erratic movements of face, trunk, legs, or arms.
26. Parkinsonism – any condition causing a movement abnormality (or a combination of them) related to Parkinson’s disease.
27. Remission – partial reduction or complete disappearance of the symptoms of a specific illness.
28. Symptomatic remission – the condition of having less than five symptoms of a specific illness.
29. Functional remission – a combination of several clinical components, including symptomatic remission and the overall illness severity.
30. Symptom reduction – a significant decrease in the symptomatic presence.
31. Symptom – an element of physical or mental condition of the patient that is apparent to them an indicates the presence of a particular disease.
32. Psychotic symptoms – symptoms of a psychotic disorder, such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, confused thinking, and others.
33. Negative symptoms – symptoms that are abnormal when they are absent.
34. Positive symptoms – symptoms that are abnormal when they are present.
35. Psychiatry – an area of medical science related to mental illnesses.
36. Mental disorder – a mental pattern characterized by abnormal condition of patient’s thoughts, emotional distress, impaired perception, or a combination of those components.
37. Deterioration – the process of progressive worsening of a particular medical condition.
38. Incapacitation – physical or mental inability to communicate effectively and make rational and informed judgments.
39. Clinical response – communication among the members of a scientific medical community to address requests for various medical information.
40. Dose – an amount of a medical preparation administered at once.
41. Dosing frequency – a time period within which a medical preparation is administered repeatedly.
42. Patient selection – the process of deciding whether to treat a potential patient and accept the corresponding responsibility.
43. Treatment options – available ways of treating a specific patient.
44. Placebo – a medication with no therapeutic effect.
45. PANSS – positive and negative syndrome scale measuring severity of symptoms.
46. Psychopathology – the study of abnormal social behavior and cognition.
47. Hazard ratio – clinical trial statistic allowing physicians to identify the effectiveness of a specific drug.
48. Relapse time – the amount of time required for the patient to go into the relapse phase.
49. Extrapyramidal symptoms – side effects produced by antipsychotics.
50. Anticholinergics – substances blocking the effects of acetylcholine.

Reference

Mathews, M., Gopal, S., Nuamah, I., Hargarter, L., Savitz, A. J., Kim, E., Tan, W., Soares, B., & Correll, C. U. (2019). Clinical relevance of paliperidone palmitate 3-monthly in treating schizophrenia. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 15, 1365-1379.