Bipolar depression and quetiapine: Results of a preliminary study

Introduction. Although the most part of "bipolar life" is a "depressive life", literature data about the treatment of bipolar depression are very poor. Aim. Aim of this work is to test the efficacy and tolerability of quetiapine in the treatment of BD. Materials and Methods. Fourteen bipolar depressed patients (mean HAM-D 26.3±2.4) have been treated using quetiapine 450.0±75.0 mg/day in a naturalistic, flexible-dose setting. Results. Quetiapine has shown a "full" and fast effectiveness in all depressed bipolar patients. Conclusions. Although the clear methodological limitations of this study, the clinical activity and the good tolerability profile of quetiapine in depressive episodes associated to Bipolar Disorder (BD) have been proved.