Efficacy of Fluoxatine in Treatment of Pathological Crying and Laughing after Stroke

Objective To estimate the effectiveness of fluoxatine treatment in patients with pathological crying and pathological laughing after brain stroke. Methods Seventeen pathological crying patients and 14 pathological crying with pathological laughing patients were included and was treated with fluoxatine (20 mg/d) for 4 weeks in this study. Results Fluoxatine is effective in the treatment of both pathological crying and laughing,but the efficacy in pathological crying is better than that in pathological laughing patients. Although HAMD scale(17 items) in most of these patients was higher than 17 scores,the improvement in emotional lability was independent on depression status. Conclusions 5-serotonine system might play an important role in pathological crying and laughing after stroke. It remains unclear whether the anatomic basis and pathogenesis of pathological crying and laughing is same.