Book contents
- The Clozapine Handbook
- The Clozapine Handbook
- Copyright page
- Additional material
- Contents
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 The Efficacy Story: Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia, Psychogenic Polydipsia, Treatment-Intolerant Schizophrenia, Suicidality, Violence, Mania and Parkinson’s Disease Psychosis
- 2 Addressing Clozapine Positive Symptom Nonresponse in Schizophrenia Spectrum Patients
- 3 Initiating Clozapine
- 4 Discontinuing Clozapine and Management of Cholinergic Rebound
- 5 Binding Profile, Metabolism, Kinetics, Drug Interactions and Use of Plasma Levels
- 6 Understanding Hematologic Monitoring and Benign Ethnic Neutropenia
- 7 Managing Constipation
- 8 Managing Sedation, Orthostasis and Tachycardia
- 9 Managing Sialorrhea
- 10 Managing Seizure Risk and Stuttering
- 11 Managing Metabolic Adverse Effects
- 12 Fever, Myocarditis, Interstitial Nephritis, DRESS, Serositis and Cardiomyopathy
- 13 Managing Enuresis and Incontinence, Priapism, Venous Thromboembolism, Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome, Tardive Dyskinesia and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- 14 Eosinophilia, Leukocytosis, Thrombocytopenia, Thrombocytosis, Anemia, Hepatic Function Abnormalities
- 15 Special Topics: Child and Adolescent Patients, Elderly Patients, Patients With Intellectual Disability, Pregnancy and Risk for Major Congenital Malformation, Lactation, Overdose, Postmortem Redistribution
- Index
- References
4 - Discontinuing Clozapine and Management of Cholinergic Rebound
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2021
Book contents
- The Clozapine Handbook
- The Clozapine Handbook
- Copyright page
- Additional material
- Contents
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 The Efficacy Story: Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia, Psychogenic Polydipsia, Treatment-Intolerant Schizophrenia, Suicidality, Violence, Mania and Parkinson’s Disease Psychosis
- 2 Addressing Clozapine Positive Symptom Nonresponse in Schizophrenia Spectrum Patients
- 3 Initiating Clozapine
- 4 Discontinuing Clozapine and Management of Cholinergic Rebound
- 5 Binding Profile, Metabolism, Kinetics, Drug Interactions and Use of Plasma Levels
- 6 Understanding Hematologic Monitoring and Benign Ethnic Neutropenia
- 7 Managing Constipation
- 8 Managing Sedation, Orthostasis and Tachycardia
- 9 Managing Sialorrhea
- 10 Managing Seizure Risk and Stuttering
- 11 Managing Metabolic Adverse Effects
- 12 Fever, Myocarditis, Interstitial Nephritis, DRESS, Serositis and Cardiomyopathy
- 13 Managing Enuresis and Incontinence, Priapism, Venous Thromboembolism, Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome, Tardive Dyskinesia and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- 14 Eosinophilia, Leukocytosis, Thrombocytopenia, Thrombocytosis, Anemia, Hepatic Function Abnormalities
- 15 Special Topics: Child and Adolescent Patients, Elderly Patients, Patients With Intellectual Disability, Pregnancy and Risk for Major Congenital Malformation, Lactation, Overdose, Postmortem Redistribution
- Index
- References
Summary
The need to discontinue clozapine is a lamentable but medically necessary event in certain circumstances, and at times must be accomplished abruptly. In instances when the patient can be tapered off gradually (e.g. dilated cardiomyopathy), the risk of cholinergic rebound symptoms is lessened and the clinician can focus on making an informed choice about antipsychotic treatment. Although no agent equals clozapine’s efficacy for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, 35% of a group of schizophrenia outpatients with poor antipsychotic response (n = 99) who were considered candidates for clozapine had subtherapeutic plasma levels of their current antipsychotic. Thus, a certain fraction of patients who end up on clozapine were failures due to inadequate dosing of prior antipsychotics, poor adherence or kinetic issues. As will be discussed below, this is an important consideration for patients deemed treatment-resistant but who did not experience adverse effects of prior antipsychotic treatment, particularly those related to D2 antagonism. This understanding may open the door to revisiting prior antipsychotics, but with careful monitoring of adherence and drug exposure via use of plasma levels.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Clozapine HandbookStahl's Handbooks, pp. 78 - 89Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019
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