A second trial of clozapine in a case of granulocytopenia.
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 The drug was withdrawn and two trials with thioridazine and olanzapine were unsuccessful.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.
Silvestrini
Cristiana
C
III Psychiatric Clinic - University of Rome, 'La Sapienza', Rome, Italy.
Arcangeli
Tiziana
T
Biondi
Massimo
M
Pancheri
Paola
P