Allan Z. Safferman

TL;DR: The increasing risk of agranulocytosis with age and the reduced incidence after the first six months of treatment provide additional guidelines for the prescription and monitoring of clozapine treatment in the future.

TL;DR: Several variables, including early age at onset of illness and female gender, were found to be predictors of poor response to treatment and the optimal period for a trial of clozapine appeared to be 12-24 weeks.

TL;DR: Although CLOZ has proven to be effective in some treatment-refractory schizophrenic patients and to produce relatively few extrapyramidal side effects compared to classical neuroleptics, several issues require further investigation including what defines neuroleptic intolerance, the optimal dose range, and the appropriate duration of a CLOz treatment trial.

TL;DR: There were no correlations between plasma clozapine levels and change in BPRS scores at treatment weeks 3 and 6, however, when the subjects were classified as responders or nonresponders, therapeutic response was associated with clozAPine blood levels above 350 ng/ml.

TL;DR: Compared with a first-generation antipsychotic given in a moderate dose, clozapine offers substantial clinical benefits to treatment-refractory subjects who can be treated in the community andvantages are seen in a broad range of symptoms but do not extend to negative symptoms.