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5 - What Is an Adequate Antipsychotic Trial? Using Plasma Levels to Optimize Psychiatric Response and Tolerability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2021

Jonathan M. Meyer  and
Stephen M. Stahl
Jonathan M. Meyer
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
Stephen M. Stahl
Affiliation:
University of California, Riverside and San Diego
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Summary

Psychiatry is the youngest medical specialty, with continually evolving methods of disease classification, models of pathogenesis, and concepts about evidence-based management. One of the greatest advances in the treatment of schizophrenia comes from sophisticated analyses of clinical trials data, with a view to identifying patients who appear unlikely to respond to the current treatment condition (i.e. the current dose of the psychotropic) regardless of how much time they are given [1]. These analyses are not a trivial exercise, but a concerted effort to minimize unnecessary patient suffering when clinicians delay changes in dose (or medication), waiting for delayed response.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Clinical Use of Antipsychotic Plasma Levels
Stahl's Handbooks
 , pp. 114 - 146
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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