Reactions 1211 - 19 Jul 2008

Ropinirole

Visual hallucinations: case reportA 58-year-old woman with a long-term history of major

depressive disorder and dysthymic disorder, experiencedvisual hallucinations after her ropinirole dosage was increased.

The woman, who had treatment-resistant depression andwas taking fluoxetine, was started on antidepressantaugmentation with ropinirole 2 mg/day, with the dosagetitrated to 4 mg/day within 4 weeks. Six weeks after startingropinirole, the dosage was increased to 6 mg/day in order totarget residual depressive symptoms. Two days afterincreasing her ropinirole dosage, she experienced visualhallucinations of her deceased mother. She experienced threesuch hallucinations within a week.

The woman’s ropinirole dosage was decreased to 4 mg/dayand her hallucinations completely resolved.

Author comment: "The intriguing point in our case is thatthe onset of hallucinations started after increasing the dose ofropinirole. . .and disappeared upon reducing the dose. . .Thissuggests that ropinirole may have a dose-dependentpropensity for inducing psychotic symptoms."Pae C-U, et al. A case of transient hallucination with ropinirole augmentationantidepressant in a patient with treatment-resistant depression: is there differentialeffect of ropinirole dose on developing psychotic symptom? Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry 32: 1087-1088, No. 4, 15 May2008 - USA 801117102

1

Reactions 19 Jul 2008 No. 12110114-9954/10/1211-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved