LAS VEGAS – Hypoactive delirium is common in terminally ill patients; just as disconcerting as hyperactive, agitated delirium; and just as likely to respond to antipsychotics, according to Dr. William Breitbart, chief of the psychiatry service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York.
Outwardly, patients with hypoactive delirium appear less distressed than do patients with hyperactive delirium, yet they report just as much distress and about half of them report delusions and hallucinations.
Dr. William Breitbart
About 80% of terminal cancer patients become delirious in their final weeks of life, and about half of them experience hypoactive delirium in association with opioid analgesia, metabolic derangements, and organ failure.
Addressing hypoactive delirium requires diplomacy, especially in patients with hallucinations, he said. Dying patients often see dead relatives – parents, for instance, who come to accompany them to the afterlife. "For me to barrel into the room and say those are psychotic symptoms or describe these experiences as absurd would be insensitive; they are profoundly meaningful experiences to patients and families," Dr. Breitbart said at the annual psychopharmacology update held by the Nevada Psychiatric Association. Instead, he acknowledges the significance of the visions, but notes that they can rapidly change to very frightening visions. He then discusses the use of medications to avert this possible progression.
Antipsychotics help to reduce agitation, psychotic symptoms, and more subtle problems such as disorientation in these patients, Dr. Breitbart said at the conference. When the underlying metabolic problems can be addressed in cancer patients, the drugs can be used for a few weeks and this sort of short-term use is not associated with increased mortality, he said. The ultimate goal of treatment is an "upright patient who is awake, alert, and conversant with family and staff."
In the patient with imminent terminal illness, however, sometimes "the best you can achieve (with antipsychotics) is a sedated patient," he said.
Low-dose haloperidol is generally preferred; atypical antipsychotics have not proven any more effective or safer. Close monitoring for side effects – particularly prolonged QTc intervals and extrapyramidal symptoms – is essential (J. Clin. Oncol. 2012;30:1206-14).
Haloperidol and chlorpromazine work equally well in both types of delirium. Dr. Breitbart said he’ll sometimes add chlorpromazine when agitation fails to respond to haloperidol alone.
Aripiprazole may work a bit better in hypoactive patients; olanzapine may be preferred in hyperactive patients. Risperidone is another option.
"We tend not to use benzodiazepines because they worsen delirium, but if your goal is to sedate a patient, then benzodiazepines are helpful. We often use haloperidol in combination with a drug like lorazepam to help get an agitated patient under better control," he said.
Dr. Breitbart said he has no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests.