Xenon in the treatment of panic disorder: An open label study
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Current treatments of panic disorder (PD) are limited by adverse effects, poor efficacy, and need for chronic administration. The established safety profile of subanesthetic concentrations of xenon gas, which is known to act as a glutamate subtype NMDA receptor antagonist, coupled with preclinical studies demonstrating its effects in other anxiety related conditions, prompted us to evaluate its feasibility and efficacy in treatment of patients with PD. METHODS: An open-label clinical trial of xenon-oxygen mixture was conducted in 81 patients with PD; group 1 consisting of patients only with PD (N = 42); and group 2 patients with PD and other comorbidities (N = 39). RESULTS: Based on the analysis of the results of a number of psychometric scales used in this study (SAS, HADS, CGI), several conclusions can be made: (1) xenon is a potentially effective modality in acute treatment of PD; (2) an anti-panic effect of xenon administration persists for at least 6 months after the completion of the active phase of treatment; (3) xenon inhalation is well tolerated, with the drop-out rates being much lower than that of conventional pharmacotherapy (5.8% vs. 15%); (4) the severity of depressive disorders that frequently accompany PD can be significantly reduced with the use of xenon; (5) xenon may be considered as an alternative to benzodiazepines in conjunction with cognitive-behavioral therapy as a safe modality in treatment of anxiety disorder. CONCLUSIONS: These data support the need for randomized double-blind clinical trials to further study xenon-based interventions. Trial registration This clinical trial was retrospectively registered on April 14th, 2017 as ISRCTN15184285 in the ISRCTN database.
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In an open-label study involving 80 patients with diagnosed PD, sub-chronic inhalation of sub-anaesthetic concentrations of a xenon-oxygen mixture immediately and progressively reduced the occurrence of panic attacks as well as anxiety in general, and this reduction lasted up to 6 months after treatment.
“In a recently published open-label study involving 80 patients with diagnosed PD, the sub-chronic inhalation of sub-anaesthetic concentrations of a xenon-oxygen mixture immediately and progressively reduced the occurrence of panic attacks as well as of anxiety in general, and this reduction lasted up to 6 months after treatment (Dobrovolsky et al., 2017).”
From Novel pharmacological targets in drug development for the treatment of anxiety and anxiety-related disorders (2019) · cites this paper as Dobrovolsky et al., 2017
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- Authors
- Dobrovolsky, A., Ichim, T. E., Ma, D., Kesari, S., & Bogin, V.
- Affiliations
- Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University (RU)
- Nobilis Therapeutics (United States) (US)
- Chelsea and Westminster Hospital (GB)
- Saint John's Health Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ichim, Thomas E.
- Venue
- Journal of Translational Medicine
- Published
- 2017-06-13
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 137-137
- ISSN
- 1479-5876 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5470223
- OpenAlex
- W2624964605
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 3.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Translational Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Nobilis Therapeutics (001)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Biomedical and Chemical Research
- Keywords
- xenon, panic disorder, NMDA receptor antagonists, glutamate, anxiety disorders, comorbid depression, cognitive behavioral therapy, treatment tolerability
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety, Demography, Female, Humans, Male, Xenon, Panic Disorder
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