Objective

To determine the safety and tolerability of 3 doses of intranasal oxytocin (Syntocinon; Novartis, Bern, Switzerland) administered to patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

Methods

We conducted a randomized, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled study using a dose-escalation design to test 3 clinically feasible doses of intranasal oxytocin (24, 48, or 72 IU) administered twice daily for 1 week to 23 patients with behavioral variant FTD or semantic dementia (clinicaltrials.gov registration number NCT01386333). Primary outcome measures were safety and tolerability at each dose. Secondary measures explored efficacy across the combined oxytocin vs placebo groups and examined potential dose-related effects.

Results

All 3 doses of intranasal oxytocin were safe and well tolerated.

Conclusions

A multicenter trial is warranted to determine the therapeutic efficacy of long-term intranasal oxytocin for behavioral symptoms in FTD.

Classification of evidence

This study provides Class I evidence that for patients with FTD, intranasal oxytocin is not significantly associated with adverse events or significant changes in the overall neuropsychiatric inventory.