Does Switching to Another Antipsychotic in Patients With Clozapine-Associated Granulocytopenia Solve the Problem? Case Series of 18 Patients

COŞAR B., TANER M. E., Eser H. Y., ALTINÖZ A. E., Tarhan R.

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY, vol.31, no.2, pp.169-173, 2011 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)

Abstract

Clozapine is a well-known drug that is used in treatment-resistant schizophrenia, but granulocytopenia, which may lead to a potentially fatal condition such as agranulocytosis, limit its use. The question about which antipsychotic should be used after a diagnosis of clozapine-associated granulocytopenia is difficult to answer, because antipsychotics other than clozapine may also have hematologic toxicity, or they may prolong clozapine-associated granulocytopenia. In this study, we aimed to find out the incidence of clozapine-associated granulocytopenia in our treatment sample and discuss suitable antipsychotic drug options in terms of hematologic toxicity, for management of clozapine-associated granulocytopenia.