Tachycardia is associated with cardiovascular mortality. Tachycardia is also a known clozapine adverse effect. However, whether clozapine-associated tachycardia is persistent is not known. Thirty clozapine-treated patients with clinical tachycardia were investigated with 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiography (ECG). Baseline peripheral heart rate (HR) was 106.7±7.8. The ambulatory ECG 24-hour-H...

Clozapine use is associated with various adverse events, some of which have received little attention, including eosinophilia, pleural effusion, and hepatitis. Because of the fatality of jaundice with hepatitis, it is necessary to understand the course and management of clozapine-induced eosinophilia and hepatitis. We report on a case in which the eosinophil count began to increase shortly afte...

BACKGROUND Although there is a consensus that clozapine is more effective than conventional antipsychotic drugs for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, there is great heterogeneity among results of relevant trials. AIMS To re-evaluate the evidence comparing clozapine with conventional antipsychotics and to investigate sources of heterogeneity. METHOD Individual studies were inspected with as...

Effect of clozapine on MK-801-induced hyperlocomotion and stereotypy as well as open field behavior was studied. Clozapine (0.1-7.5 mg/kg) dose-dependently blocked MK-801(0.5 mg/kg)-induced stereotypy. Both total and ambulatory responses were blocked by even the lower doses (0.1-0.5 mg/kg) of clozapine. In open field test, clozapine selectively blocked hyperambulation induced by MK-801 (0.1 mg/...

Clozapine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October of 1989 for use through the Clozaril Patient Management System (CPMS). Prior to that date clozapine was prescribed on a "compassionate use" basis at 16 study centers in the U.S. It was used primarily with patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder whose symptoms were refractory to traditiona...

Bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with periodic symptom exacerbations, leading to functional impairment, and increased risk of suicide. Although clozapine has never been approved for the treatment of BD, it is occasionally used in severe mania. The aim of the study is to evaluate the risks and benefits of switching clozapine in remitted BD patients. This is an observational, mirror image stud...

Clozapine has demonstrated superior efficacy in relieving positive and negative symptoms in treatment-resistant schizophrenic patients; unlike other antipsychotics, it causes minimal extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) and has little effect on serum prolactin. Despite these benefits, the use of clozapine has been limited because of infrequent but serious side effects, the most notable being agran...

OBJECTIVES To examine the association between clozapine treatment and frequency of cannabis use in adolescents with co-occurring psychotic and cannabis use disorder in a retrospective cohort chart review. METHOD We conducted a retrospective cohort chart review of patients diagnosed with a psychotic disorder and concurrent cannabis use disorder admitted to a tertiary care youth inpatient unit ...

BACKGROUND Clozapine is the most effective drug for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, but its use is limited by toxicity. Because ethnicity has been reported to affect clozapine metabolism, we compared its steady state pharmacokinetics in New Zealand Maori and European patients. METHODS Clozapine and norclozapine steady state bioavailability was assessed over 24h under fasting and fed condit...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of quetiapine and clozapine in parkinsonian patients with dopaminergic psychosis in a randomized, open-label, blinded-rater, parallel group trial. METHODS Forty-five patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and psychosis induced by antiparkinsonian drugs were randomly assigned to receive either quetiapine or clozapine. The duration of ...