Clozapine lacks previous clinical efficacy when restarted after a period of discontinuation: a case series.
No data are available in the literature about clozapine clinical efficacy when the drug is administered to schizophrenic patients who relapsed after discontinuation of long-term clozapine treatment and who had previously been responsive to the drug. In this study, three chronic schizophrenic patients are presented, who, in spite of a good clinical efficacy, decided to stop long-term clozapine treatment. Soon after their relapse they were again treated with clozapine: follow-up of these patients showed that clozapine partially lost its clinical efficacy since all three patients got worse compared with their initial clinical response.
Grassi
B
B
Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Psychiatry Branch, University of Medical School, H.S.Paolo, Milan, Italy. scarones@imiucca.csi.unimi.it
Ferrari
R
R
Epifani
M
M
Dragoni
C
C
Cohen
S
S
Scarone
S
S
D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood; D003024:Clozapine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016312:Treatment Refusal
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D003024:Clozapine