A Placebo-Controlled Trial of D-Cycloserine and Exposure Therapy for Combat-PTSD

Summary

The primary aim of this project is to examine whether administration of D-Cycloserine (DCS), a partial N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor agonist that has been shown to facilitate fear extinction, enhances the therapeutic benefit of exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in OEF/OIF veterans with PTSD.

Timeline

Start

2006-10

Primary completion

2011-09

Completion

2012-07

Outcome

Missed primary endpoint

paper results indicated that veterans in the exposure therapy plus DCS condition experienced significantly less symptom reduction than those in the exposure therapy plus placebo condition over the course of the treatment. PMID 22694905 ↗

Publications

• Results Litz BT, Salters-Pedneault K, Steenkamp MM, Hermos JA, Bryant RA, Otto MW, Hofmann SG. A randomized placebo-controlled trial of D-cycloserine and exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder. J Psychiatr Res. 2012 Sep;46(9):1184-90. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.05.006. Epub 2012 Jun 12.

Drugs

Indications