title: A second trial of clozapine in a case of granulocytopenia.
abstract: It is generally believed that agranulocytosis, a major problem with clozapine treatment, will tend to occur dose-dependently once it develops in an individual. Therefore, despite clinical progress obtained, the drug has to be discontinued and treatment shifts to another drug. We report on the case of a 29-year-old woman with DSM-IV undifferentiated schizophrenia who developed agranulocytosis after 5 years of 300 mg/day clozapine treatment. The drug was withdrawn and two trials with thioridazine and olanzapine were unsuccessful. Four months after clozapine suspension, we decided to make a further trial, reintroducing clozapine titrated up to 500 mg/day. The patient's symptoms improved and blood leukocytes remained within the normal range after eight months. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: III Psychiatric Clinic - University of Rome, 'La Sapienza', Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristiana
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Silvestrini
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arcangeli
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Biondi
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pancheri