Use of Aripiprazole in treatment resistant schizophrenia

Abstract

For various reasons large numbers of patients treated with Clozapine end up discontinuing the treatment. The authors present the results of switching to Aripiprazole in patients who had to discontinue Clozapine because of neutropenia below the acceptable level for treatment with Clozapine. To summarize and present three cases of individuals with treatment resistant schizophrenia based on the ICD-10 diagnosti criteria. In all cases Clozapine was discontinued and treatment changed to Aripiprazole. Favorable clinical results were noticed in all three patients. The findings from this case series suggest that there is scope for a trial of Aripiprazole for patients with treatment resistant schizophrenia and an invitation for further research of this area.