Switching Antipsychotics: Abrupt Discontinuation Versus Overlap
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2004-07-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Clozapine has been demonstrated to be clinically superior to other antipsychotics in
treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS), and is positioned as such in treatment guidelines.
Because it is relegated to use in TRS, guidelines require that it only be used after other
antipsychotics have failed; accordingly, clinicians routinely contend with stopping the
previous antipsychotic in making the switch to clozapine. Perhaps because of its numerous and
potentially severe side effects, the issue of clozapine titration has frequently been
addressed, although to our knowledge no study has, as of yet, assessed the comparability of
gradual vs. immediate antipsychotic discontinuation in switching to clozapine. To address the
gap in knowledge specific to clozapine, the investigators conducted a pilot, 8-week,
double-blind, randomized controlled trial examining immediate vs. gradual antipsychotic
discontinuation in patients with schizophrenia undergoing a switch to clozapine.