Clozapine and COVID-19: A Case Report and Clinical Considerations.

BACKGROUND: The emergence of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, and the subsequent global epidemic of COVID-19, brought with it innumerable new clinical experiences across all medical specialties, and psychiatry is no exception. Individuals with serious mental illness, in particular schizophrenia and related disorders, may be especially susceptible to coronavirus infection given the overlapping risk factors of vulnerable sociodemographic status, increased challenges with quarantining requirements, and limited compliance with "respiratory etiquette." The case presented here describes a patient with schizophrenia who was being managed on clozapine and who developed symptomatic COVID-19 infection. Special care was taken to ensure that potential interactions between clozapine and the associated COVID-19 treatments were safe for the patient's mental and physical wellbeing. CASE PRESENTATION: A 71-year-old schizophrenic Caucasian male is being managed with clozapine. While hospitalized, the patient was screened positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to the ICU due to his declining respiratory status. He was treated with both remdesivir and prednisone. He was able to fully recover from his COVID-19 infection. CONCLUSION: The authors review the clinical characteristics of the case, highlighting both the overlapping synergistic effects and antagonistic influences of clozapine therapy in combination with COVID-19 and its associated treatments. A review of the literature offers an opportunity to examine various frameworks for individualized clinical decision-making while making the case for greater epidemiologic research into the optimal management of individuals with a psychotic disorder who are diagnosed with COVID-19 infection.

Electroconvulsive Therapy in a Patient With a Liver Transplant.

Depression is common in patients after liver transplantation and, when severe, can threaten both viability of the graft and the patient's life. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a safe and highly effective therapy for severe depression, but there have been very few reports of its use in liver transplant recipients. We describe a patient who had undergone a successful orthotopic liver transplant 26 years previously, who developed severe major depression. The patient tolerated an index course of ECT well and responded robustly. There were no complications pertinent to the graft or otherwise. Liver transplantation is not a contraindication to ECT, and clinicians should not hesitate to proceed when necessary.