A b st ra ct Atypical antipsychotic drugs are associated with metabolic disturbances like weight gain, type 2 diabetes hyperglycaemia and dyslipedemia, which can result in serious health risk in patients. Diabetic ketoacidosis resulting in serious metabolic acidosis, occurring in a schizophrenic patient on treatment with clozapine is being reported to draw attention this association. Frequent m...

TO THE EDITOR: Among currently available atypical antipsychotic agents, clozapine and olanzapine are most often associated with clinically problematic weight gain and new-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus (1). Ziprasidone, a benzisothiazolylpiperazine, is a relatively new atypical antipsychotic that has been shown to be less likely to produce weight gain (2). We report on a patient with olanzapine...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the patterns of antipsychotic use in China and to analyze the factors that influence antipsychotic prescriptions. METHODS A standardized survey was conducted from May 20 to 24 2002 in five different regions of China with varying economic levels. The patterns of antipsychotic medication use were analyzed in a sample of 4,779 patients with schizophrenia. The survey gath...

Joel E. Streim, MD (Chair) J. Michael Ryan, MD Atypical Antipsychotics for the Management of Patients With Dementia and Psychotic Symptoms On August 18 and 19, 2003, two symposia entitled “Effective Management of Patients With Dementia and Psychotic Symptoms” and “Atypical Antipsychotic Drugs for the Treatment of Psychotic Symptoms of Dementia” were presented at the 11th International Congress ...

P HARMACEUTICALS ARE UNDENIABLY ONE OF THE CORNERSTONES OF MODern medicine. Appropriately used, many pharmaceutical agents can provide powerful health improvements and tremendous value for money in the health-care system. Despite this remarkable promise, pharmaceuticals have important characteristics that necessitate careful appraisal of their safety, effectiveness and economic value, both befo...

Over the course of the last decade, atypical antipsychotic medications (olanzapine, quetiapine, and risperidone) have become first-line choices for acute and maintenance treatment for schizophrenia. In numerous cases, these antipsychotics have replaced typical neuroleptics, which are associated with a high incidence of adverse effects, particularly parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia. Each phar...

Risperidone is an atypical antipsychotic with broad spectrum of antipsychotic activity and lower potential for extrapyramidal side effects at therapeutic doses. This case report illustrates the development of tardive dyskinesia with therapeutic dose of risperidone in a paranoid schizophrenic patient who was not on any antipsychotic medication previously.

The first antipsychotic, chlorpromazine, was used for the treatment of psychosis in France in 1951 and in the United States in 1954. Antipsychotic use has expanded significantly since then. The historic term neuroleptic, used with antipsychotic medication, is no longer appropriate because newer agents cause less sedation. The term antipsychotic is now preferred. In 2009, U.S. poison control cen...

The ability of subanesthetic doses of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists to induce positive, negative, and cognitive schizophrenia-like symptoms suggests that reduced NMDA receptor function may contribute to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. An increasing body of evidence indicates that antipsychotic drugs, especially those with "atypical" properties, can antagonize the effects of NMDA...

OBJECTIVE Atypical antipsychotic drug treatment is clinically effective with a low risk of extrapyramidal symptoms. Explanations for the mechanism underlying this beneficial therapeutic profile of atypical over typical antipsychotic agents include 1) simultaneous antagonism of dopamine D(2) and serotonin 5-HT(2A) receptors or 2) selective action at limbic cortical dopamine D(2)-like receptors w...