What medication is considered the first-line treatment for psychotic symptoms in patients with delirium?

Haloperidol is considered the first-line treatment for managing psychotic symptoms in patients experiencing delirium due to its effectiveness and safety profile. As a traditional antipsychotic, haloperidol has been widely used in clinical practice for its ability to swiftly reduce agitation and psychotic symptoms associated with delirium.

Haloperidol acts by blocking dopamine receptors in the brain, which helps alleviate the symptoms of psychosis such as hallucinations and delusions. Its relatively rapid onset of action makes it useful in acute settings where immediate symptom relief is often necessary. Additionally, the medication is well-studied and has an established history of use in this population, contributing to its recommendation as the preferred choice in clinical guidelines for treating delirium-related agitation and psychosis.

While other medications such as aripiprazole, olanzapine, and quetiapine are also antipsychotics with utility in managing psychiatric symptoms, they may not have the same level of established evidence supporting their use specifically for delirium-related symptoms when compared to haloperidol. Therefore, haloperidol remains the standard go-to option in these scenarios, given its balanced risk-benefit profile.