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Current Trends in Lithium and Rubidium Therapy pp 165–187Cite as

Lithium prophylaxis in major affective disorders: on the specificity and sensitivity of some “new” predictors of treatment outcome

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Abstract

Since the controversy over the long term efficacy of lithium has been definitively overcome with the unequivocal demonstration that lithium is a valuable treatment for both the prevention and the attenuation of affective recurrences in a substantial portion of patients suffering from Major Affective Disorders (MAD) (1, 2, 3), studies with lithium have been focused more and more on attempts to predict which candidates might be expected to have good lithium responses (4, 5, 6, 7). Clinical and experimental needs both require this type of research. First of all, adequate recognition of patients who will respond differently to lithium, not only gives a rational basis for whether or not to undertake long term lithiumstabilization, it also influences investigations of new putative stabiliz-ing treatments (8), since the definition of the risk-benefit ratios of these alternative therapies will weigh differently if they are chiefly indicated for lithium responders or lithium non-responders. Furthermore, the differentiation of lithium responders from lithium non-responders could be of fundamental importance for proper understanding of the basic processes underlying the disease in the different subgroups of MAD.

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Authors
  1. E. Sacchetti
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  2. A. Vita
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  3. G. Conte
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  4. A. Pennati
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cagliari, Italy

    Giovanni Umberto Corsini

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© 1984 MTP Press Limited

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Sacchetti, E., Vita, A., Conte, G., Pennati, A. (1984). Lithium prophylaxis in major affective disorders: on the specificity and sensitivity of some “new” predictors of treatment outcome. In: Corsini, G.U. (eds) Current Trends in Lithium and Rubidium Therapy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7318-6_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7318-6_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-011-7320-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-7318-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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