Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27568889›Full record

ArticleJournal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine2016

Flumazenil for the Treatment of Refractory Hypersomnolence: Clinical Experience with 153 Patients.

Lynn Marie Trotti, Prabhjyot Saini, Catherine Koola, Vincent LaBarbera, Donald L Bliwise, David B Rye

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
26citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
4.3field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Treatment of central disorders of hypersomnolence: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine systematic review, meta-analysis, and GRADE assessment.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2021
    Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Idiopathic hypersomnia is a 24-hour disorder.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2025
    Review
  5. Review
  6. Current knowledge on the pathophysiology of idiopathic hypersomnia and potential mechanisms of action for low-sodium oxybate treatment.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2025
    Review
  7. Pathophysiological Models of Hypersomnolence Associated With Depression.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025
    Review
  8. Article
  9. A scoping review of the evidence on pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions for idiopathic hypersomnia.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2024
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Idiopathic Hypersomnia and Other Hypersomnia Syndromes.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2021
    Review
  15. Natural Cannabinoids as Templates for Sleep Disturbances Treatments.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2021
    Article
  16. Central Disorders of Hypersomnolence.Continuum (Minneapolis, Minn.) · 2020
    Review
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Clinical update on central hypersomnias.Journal of thoracic disease · 2018
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Lynn Marie TrottiEmory University School of Medicine, Sleep Center and Department of Neurology, Atlanta, GA.
Prabhjyot SainiEmory University School of Medicine, Sleep Center and Department of Neurology, Atlanta, GA.
Catherine KoolaEmory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA.
Vincent LaBarberaEmory University School of Medicine, Sleep Center and Department of Neurology, Atlanta, GA.
Donald L BliwiseEmory University School of Medicine, Sleep Center and Department of Neurology, Atlanta, GA.
David B RyeEmory University School of Medicine, Sleep Center and Department of Neurology, Atlanta, GA.
Emory University · US

Funding

Institute for Clinical and Translational ResearchUL1TR000424 · NCATS · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI FORD, DANIEL ERNEST · 2012 to 2012
$6.0M
Characterization of an endogenous GABA-ergic mechanism underlying hypersomniaR01NS089719 · NINDS · EMORY UNIVERSITY · PI RYE, DAVID B · 2015 to 2018
$2.4M
Sleepiness and sleep drunkenness: narcolepsy versus GABA-related hypersomniaK23NS083748 · NINDS · EMORY UNIVERSITY · PI TROTTI, LYNN MARIE · 2014 to 2018
$918k
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR000424NINDS NIH HHS K23 NS083748NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS089719
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

STUDY

objectivesPatients with central disorders of hypersomnolence sometimes do not achieve satisfactory symptom control with currently available wake-promoting medications. Based on the finding that the cerebrospinal fluid from some patients with hypersomnolence demonstrates potentiation of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-A receptors in excess of that of controls, a finding that reverses with flumazenil, we initiated prescribing compounded flumazenil to carefully selected, treatment-refractory hypersomnolent patients.

methodsThis retrospective chart review evaluated the first 153 consecutive patients treated with transdermal and/or sublingual flumazenil by physicians at our center from 2013 through January 2015.

resultsPatients were 35.5 y old (± 14.4) and 92 (60.1%) were women. Mean Epworth Sleepiness Scale scores prior to flumazenil were 15.1 (± 4.5) despite prior or current treatment with traditional wake-promoting therapies. Symptomatic benefit was noted by 96 patients (62.8%), with a mean reduction in Epworth Sleepiness Scale score of 4.7 points (± 4.7) among responders. Of these, 59 remained on flumazenil chronically, for a mean of 7.8 mo (± 6.9 mo). Female sex and presence of reported sleep inertia differentiated flumazenil responders from nonresponders. Adverse events were common, but often did not result in treatment discontinuation. Serious adverse events included a transient ischemic attack and a lupus vasculopathy, although whether these events occurred because of flumazenil administration is unknown.

conclusionsThis chart review demonstrates that sublingual and transdermal flumazenil provided sustained clinical benefit to 39% of patients with treatment-refractory hypersomnolence. Prospective, controlled studies of this GABA-A receptor antagonist for the treatment of hypersomnolence are needed. COMMENTARY: A commentary on this article appears in this issue on page 1321.

Indexed as

AdultDisorders of Excessive SomnolenceFemaleFlumazenilGABA ModulatorsHumansMaleRetrospective StudiesTreatment OutcomeFlumazenilGABA ModulatorsflumazenilGABA-A receptorGABA-related hypersomniahypersomnolenceidiopathic hypersomnianarcolepsy

Identifiers

PMID27568889
PMCPMC5033741
OpenAlexW2512371310

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.