Oxidative Stress and Poststroke Depression

Objective. To study the use of combined therapy of poststroke depression using antidepressants and an antioxidant. Materials and methods. The dynamics of the clinical status of poststroke depression and parameters of oxidative stress were studied in 60 patients with poststroke depression before and after threemonth courses of treatment with fluvoxamine 100 mg/day and Cytoflavin 10 mg/day by i.v. infusion diluted in 200 ml of 5% glucose solution (or physiological saline in patients with diabetes mellitus) in the mornings for 10 days with subsequent transfer to the tableted form (two tablets in the morning and two in the evening for 90 days). Results. The data obtained here on the comparative efficacy of the treatment of poststroke depression with fluvoxamine monotherapy and with the combination of fluvoxamine and Cytoflavin confirmed the high efficacy of combined treatment, such that this should be regarded as an option in developing novel treatment regimes for poststroke depression and that the need to prescribe antidepressants and antioxidants must be determined on the basis of individual assessment of the severity of depressive disorder and measures of oxidative stress in terms of the activity of endogenous antioxidants in each individual poststroke patient.