Thomas A. Ban and Bruno Silvestrini, editors: Trazodone. Proceedings of the First International Symposium. S.Karger, Basel/ Munchen/Paris/London/New York/Sydney, 1974. (210 pages).

INFORMATION ON CONTENTS: This volume is the Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Trazodone, held in Montreal (Quebec, Canada) on October 5 and 6, 1973. The book opens with an Introduction by Bruno Silvestrini, the pharmacologist who was instrumental in developing the drug; and is divided into seven sections, corresponding with the sessions of the symposium. The first section, composed of  three papers, deals with the pharmacology of the substance, including possible mechanism of action; the second, of five papers, with biochemistry, including drug metabolism; and the third, of two papers with toxicology, including, teratogenicity and placental transfer.   In the fourth section, the emphasis shifts from preclinical to clinical information. It includes two papers: a review of literature on the substance and a report on comprehensive clinical studies with trazodone in Canada, in patients with organic brain syndrome, schizophrenia, and depression. In the fifth section, findings in two clinical studies with trazodone, one conducted in Italy, and the other in Japan, in the treatment of neurosis are discussed. The sixth section is dedicated to seven free communications from which in one, findings in psychophysiological studies, in another, in polygraphic sleep studies, and in the third, in electroencephalographic studies are reported. The remaining four clinical papers in this section include a special study with tazodone in patients with total or partial ventilatory insufficiency, and a study of intravenous administration of the substance to patients with severe depression. The final, seventh’ session, has three papers that include two clinical studies with trazodone in depression and the concluding remarks to the symposium. The volume is complemented with a subject index and a list of participants of the symposium. The 25 papers included in the volume were authored by 49 contributors. They are (in alphabetical order):  A. Agnoli, M.M. Amin, F. Antonelli, L. Angelucci, T.A. Ban, M. Blenim, J. R. Boissier, B. Bolle, M. Casacchia, G.B. Cassano, P. Castrogiovanni, G. Coccagna, L. Conti,  M. De Gregorio, A. Dionisio, E.F. Domino, F. Engelsman, C. Fazio, J, Fichelle, T. Fujita,  S. Garattini, G.L. Gatti, M. Guazzelli, G. Gunella, A. Kitahara, V.G., Longo, A. Lopez-Zanon, C. Maggini, S. Miura,  R. Montanini, A.Muratorio, N.P.V. Nair, S. Ohtake, F. Pariante, D. Peruzy, M. Piccione, E. Portmann-Cristesco, K.F. Rivett, J. Saarma, D. Schwarz, Y. Shibahara,  A. Scotti de Carolis, B. Silvestrini, P. Soubrie, Y. Suzuki, T. Takahashi,  Y.Yamanishi, C. Yamato, and K. Yamatsu.

ONE OF THE EDITOR’S STATEMENT: Trazodone, 2-(3-(4-(3-chlorophenyl)piperazin-1-yl)propyl-1-2-4-triazolo(4,3-a)pyridin-3(2H)one hydrochloride, is a phenylpiperazine derivative of triazolopyridine. It was synthesized, in 1966, by Palazzo in the laboratories of F. Angelini, an Italian phramacutical company. The initial pharmacological studies with the substance were carried out by Silvestrini, in the mid-1960s. In 1968, preliminary data on trazodone were presented at a session of a meeting of the World Psychiatric Association in Milan (Italy), co-chaired by Thomas Ban. He became interested in the substance and conducted with his associates a series of studies with it in the early years of the 1970s, in the Division of Psychopharmacology, McGill University, Montreal. Findings of these studies provided further substantiation of the therapeutic potential of trazodone, in depressive manifestations. The accumulating clinical information on trazodone, in the early 1970s was first reviewed at a round table discussion in June 1972, in Amsterdam (The Netherlands). The international symposium, the proceedings of which are presented in this volume was held in 1973, about one year later.  

Thomas A. Ban

February 27, 2014