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. 1982 Jan;37(1):49–53. doi: 10.1136/thx.37.1.49

Protriptyline in the treatment of sleep apnoea.

W A Conway, F Zorick, P Piccione, T Roth
PMCID: PMC459244  PMID: 7071794

Abstract

Nine patients with obstructive sleep apnoea were treated with 5 to 20 mg of protriptyline each night for two to 18 months. In four patients, there was dramatic, sustained improvement in symptoms and measured sleep quality and apnoea frequency and duration. There was no improvement in two patients and three developed intolerable side-effects preventing adequate treatment. Apnoea frequency was the only apparent predictor of responsiveness. Those with fewer than 30 episodes of apnoea per hour consistently improved. Only two of four patients with more than 60 episodes per hour improved. These results provide additional evidence that a carefully monitored trial of protriptyline may benefit selected patients with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnoea.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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