Biochemical and clinical assessment of histamine blockade.

The effects of antihistamines on biochemical stress indicators and on psychomotor and physiological functions were studied in 60 healthy patients receiving in a randomized, double-blind study either 25 mg promethazine, 150 mg ranitidine, both drugs or placebo (n = 15 in each group). Different aspects of the premedications were evaluated by determining various hormone, neurotransmitter and neurotransmitter metabolite levels in blood and cerebrospinal fluid, and subjectively using questionnaires concerning the quality of the preoperative night's sleep and visual analogue scales, and objectively by measuring changes in blood pressure and heart rate, impairment of vigilance with the Maddox wing apparatus and the critical flicker fusion threshold test. The relationships between the subjective assessments and the biochemical stress indicators were also investigated.

Monoamine metabolite and catecholamine measurements in cerebrospinal fluid in determining the quality of the pre-operative night's sleep.

Temazepam 20 mg (n = 18), midazolam 15 mg (n = 14), placebo (n = 15) or no medication (n = 20) were given orally as pre-operative hypnotic in healthy patients operated on under spinal analgesia. The quality of the pre-operative night's sleep assessed subjectively was significantly better in patients receiving temazepam (P = < 0.05) and midazolam (P = < 0.

Temazepam or midazolam for night sedation. A double-blind study.

The effects of oral temazepam (20 mg), oral midazolam (15 mg) and a placebo were compared for night sedation on the evening prior to surgery in a double-blind study. Patients in the placebo group had significantly worse sleep than those in the temazepam (p = 0.004) or midazolam groups (p = 0.