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Combination treatment with second generation antipsychotics other than clozapine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

C. Schmidt-Kraepelin
C. Schmidt-Kraepelin*
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry And Psychotherapy, LVR-Clinic Düsseldorf - Medical Faculty Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

Abstract

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Background

Antipsychotic combination treatment without clozapine is common in the treatment of schizophrenia patients worldwide, despite clinical guidelines generally do not recommend such practice. This is potentially due to a high rate of non-response to monotherapies and a low-frequent adoption of Clozapine.

Aim

This presentation briefly summarizes rational combination strategies without second generation antipsychotics other than clozapine and presents new results of a multi-center randomized, double-blind controlled trial comparing monotherapy of oral amisulpride (400-800 mg/day), or olanzapine (10-20 mg/day) with amisulpride-olanzapine combination treatment.

Conclusions

Positive findings with small to medium effect sizes in favor of combination treatment with amisulpride and olanzapin have to be weight against a higher propensity to side effects since reduced sexual functions, weight gain and gain in waist circumference are higher in patients with combination treatment and olanzapine monotherapy than in patients with amisulpride monotherapy. Overall evidence in favor of combination treatment without clozapine is not strong when regarding its highly-frequent adoption in clinically practice. The strategy of combination treatment with amisulpride and olanzapine may be an alternative in certain clinical situations but should be carefully monitored and justified according to guideline recommendations for resistance to pharmacotherapy.

Comments

The adoption of clozapine should be considered, before other antipsychotic combination treatment is indicated in clinical non-response to various monotherapies. Other factors that may lead to non-response or therapy resistance such as non-adherence, substance-abuse or high metabolization have to be excluded, before such strategy is appropiate.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

SchizophreniaAntipsychoticsCombinationPolypharmacy
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S31
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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