COURSE OF HEROIN WITHDRAWAL SYNDROME IN NEWBORN INFANTS TREATED WITH PHENOBARBITAL OR CHLORPROMAZINE

Clinical observations were made on 38 newborn infants with symptoms due to heroin withdrawal. There were no deaths; serious morbidity was confined to low birth weight and diarrhea. In a study of the relative efficacy of phenobarbital and chlorpromazine in the treatment of the syndrome, 30 infants became asymptomatic within 4 days; 2 of 19 patients treated with phenobarbital and 6 of 19 receiving chlorpromazine remained mildly symptomatic for longer periods, but no definite superiority could be attributed to either drug on the basis of this trial. © 1969 The C. V. Mosby Company.