Xenon as Promising Treatment for Patients with PTSD: Case Report, Justification of Approach and Review of Literature - Abstract
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating disease with very few available treatment options where novel effective interventions constitute a significant unmet need. This case report describes successful treatment of a patient with panic disorder/PTSD stemming from the 2010 Moscow subway terrorist attacks through the combination of script-driven trauma memory reactivation and inhalation of a xenon-based gas mixture. Xenon is a competitive inhibitor of NMDA receptors known to play a role in memory reconsolidation, a learning and memory process where memories temporarily enter a labile state after reactivation and may be modified. Literature describing, current pharmacological and exposure-based treatments are reviewed and provide the basis for use of this novel treatment strategy to target and modify emotional memories.