Benzodiazepines and/or neuroleptics for the treatment of delirium in palliative care: a critical appraisal of recent randomized controlled trials.

Annals of Palliative Medicine, 2019 Mar 26.
Gaertner J1, Eychmueller S2, Leyhe T3, Bueche D4, Savaskan E5, Schlögl M

Despite the lack of randomized-controlled-trials (RCTs) benzodiazepines and neuroleptic agents are used extensively in palliative care for the pharmacological management of delirium.  This is a narrative summary of the findings of two RCTs and practical recommendations are presented. The recently published landmark RCTs provide moderate evidence to adopt recommendations from other medical specialties (i.e., intensive care, geriatrics) to the field of palliative care.

Fulltext available in Annals of Palliative Medicine