Agranulocytosis during treatment with chlozapine

Within six months of the introduction of the new antipsychotic drug clozapine in Finalnd, 17 cases of neutropenia or agranulocytosis were recorded amongst about 3000 patients treated. Agranulocytosis was fatal in eight patients, and in addition, two patients developed thrombocytopenia, and one patie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of clinical pharmacology 1977-03, Vol.11 (3), p.193
Main Authors: Idänpään-Heikkilä, J, Alhava, E, Olkinuora, M, Palva, I P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Agranulocytosis - chemically induced
Agranulocytosis - epidemiology
Agranulocytosis - mortality
Clozapine - adverse effects
Clozapine - analysis
Clozapine - therapeutic use
Dibenzazepines - adverse effects
Drug Contamination
Drug Therapy, Combination
Female
Finland
Hematologic Diseases - chemically induced
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
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Summary:Within six months of the introduction of the new antipsychotic drug clozapine in Finalnd, 17 cases of neutropenia or agranulocytosis were recorded amongst about 3000 patients treated. Agranulocytosis was fatal in eight patients, and in addition, two patients developed thrombocytopenia, and one patient leukaemia. As additional cases might well have been overlooked as banal infections, the risk of developing agranulocytosis during clozapine treatment was at least 0.5%. Impaired elimination of the drug or increased susceptibility of granulocyte precursors to clozapine, possibly due to some inherited characteristic, might explain the high incidence of complications.
ISSN:0031-6970