Risperidone and Divalproex Sodium With MRI Assessment in Pediatric Bipolar

Controlled Trial of Risperidone and Divalproex Sodium With MRI Assessment of Affected Circuitry in Pre and Post Treatment in Pediatric Bipolar

The study is to examine the null hypothesis that risperidone and divalproex sodium are equally effective in treating/stabilizing pediatric bipolar disorder.

Pediatric Bipolar Disorder (PBD) severely impairs a child's emotional development, and is associated with alarming rates of suicide, school failure, aggression, risk taking behaviors and substance abuse (Geller et al, 1998; 2001; Carlson et al, 1998). At present, very little is known about the pathophysiology or optimal treatment of PBD. The long range goals of this proposal are threefold: to investigate a range of pharmacotherapeutic agents that are safe and efficacious for PBD, to use fMRI techniques to examine abnormalities in brain function in this disorder, as well as any change in brain function after treatment.

In contrast to the adult literature, we are aware of only two prospective studies assessing the efficacy of standard mood stabilizers in a pediatric sample. In one, lithium was found to be moderately effective in PBD with comorbid substance abuse (Geller et al, 1998). In the other, divalproex sodium, lithium and carbamazepine produced a maximum of 50% symptom reduction (Kowatch et al, 2000). Subsequently, Kafantaris et al (2001) observed a potentiation of lithium's antimanic effect when combined with risperidone. Further, a prospective, open trial of olanzapine for PBD reported a 70% symptom reduction (Frazier et al, 2001) with a retention rate of 96% compared to only 7% with classic mood stabilizers (Kowatch et al, 2000).

Thus, parallelling adult studies (Sachs et al, 2000), novel antipsychotics are a promising treatment in this population. Further, up to 60% of acute PBD episodes present with psychotic features (Geller et al, in press). Finally, the time to full effect with mood stabilizers is often 4 weeks in children (Kowatch et al, 2000; Geller et al, 1998; Kafantaris et al, 2001), whereas antipsychotics usually have a more rapid response onset (Pavuluri et al, in press). Given the potential efficacy of novel antipsychotics for PBD, the aim is to conduct a randomized trial comparing a novel antipsychotic to a standard mood stabilizer:

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children with Bipolar Disorder
• Must be able to swallow tablets

Exclusion Criteria:

• Children with general medical condition such as head injury, epilepsy, endocrine disorders
• Those who are on mood altering medications such as steroids, and those diagnosed with mental retardation are excluded to avoid confounding and contributing factors to mood swings.
• If we discover during the interview that the parent and/or child does not understand the consent/assent procedures, we will exclude them.

We expect only a small number of children to be excluded from the study due to exclusionary criteria. Selection of the subjects is not based on sex, race, or ethnic group.