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Hindi Research Article
Clozapine for Treating Pharmacoresistant Schizophrenia among Elders
1 Department of Psychogeriatry,HavlíÄÂkova 1265, 767 40 Kromeriz, Czech republic,Europe
2 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ostrava,Czech republic, Europe
- Corresponding Author:
- Luzny Jan
Department of Psychogeriatry
HavlíÄÂkova 1265, 767 40 Kromeriz
Czech republic, Europe
Fax: 420573314111
Tel: 420573314111
E-mail: honza.luzny@centrum.cz
Received date: January 06, 2014; Accepted date: January 15, 2014; Published date: January 23, 2014
Citation: Jan L, Chalany J (2014) Clozapine for Treating Pharmacoresistant Schizophrenia among Elders. J Clin Diagn Res 2:101. doi:10.4172/jcdr.1000101
Copyright: © 2014 Jan L, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Introduction: Pharmacoresistant schizophrenia is not a rarity. It is defined as un successfull treatment of schizophrenia by two different sort of antipsychotics with different mechanism of action, lasting up at least six weeks with dosage which is equivalent to 1000 mg per day of chlorpromazine in the period of last five years. Clozapine is used as a “rescue“antipsychotic when previous treatment of schizophrenia fails.Objective of the study is to examine safety and effectiveness of clozapine in treating pharmacoresistant schizophrenia among elders.
Material and Methods: Five patients with pharmacoresistant schizophrenia treated with clozapine. Psychiatric scales PANSS and CGI-S were used initially before starting with clozapine treatment, then after 4 and 8 weeks and after 12 weeks of clozapine use. White blood cells and agranulocytes count was monitored initially before starting with clozapine treatment, then after 4 and 8 weeks and finally after 12 weeks of using clozapine. Side effects caused by clozapine were monitored after 12 weeks of clozapine use.
Results: Clozapine decreased the main symptomatology of pharmacoresistant schizophrenia in old age patients with no serious deterioration of white blood cells count. Side effects of clozapine in old age patients were tolerable although sedation, hypotension, agitation, weight gain and deterioration in metabolit parameters were not rare in studied group of senior patients.
Conclusion: Clozapine can be used as rescue antipsychotic for treating the pharmacoresistant schizophrenia in elderly. However, monitoring of side effects of clozapine used in elderly and watchful awareness is unevitable.
