Nonfatal pulmonary embolus associated with clozapine treatment: a case series.

Clozapine is a tricyclic dibenzodiazepine efficacious in the management of treatment-resistant chronic schizophrenia. Although case reports of arrhythmias and cardiomyositis have been reported with clozapine use, severe acute cardiovascular side effects (SE) tend to be rare in clozapine treatment. The author reports on a case series of three patients treated with clozapine on a long-term inpatient unit that developed nonfatal pulmonary emboli (PE) and deep venous thrombosis (DVT). While not a contraindication, potential increased PE risk should be discussed with initiation of clozapine treatment.

Psychiatric resident and attending diagnostic and prescribing practices.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates whether two patient population groups, under resident or attending treatment, are equivalent or different in the distribution of patient characteristics, diagnoses, or pharmacotherapy. METHODS: Demographic data, psychiatric diagnoses, and pharmacotherapy data were collected for 100 random patient charts of psychiatric residents, and were then compared with 100 random patient charts of attending psychiatrists. RESULTS: Student's t test and chi square analysis suggested no statistically significant differences in the average number of comorbid Axis I diagnoses, percentages of patients with Axis II diagnoses, or major differences in the specific percentages of the 10 most common Axis I diagnoses. Furthermore, there were no statistically significant differences in the average number of psychiatric medications prescribed for pharmacological management of mental illness, or ratios of specific drug classes utilized. CONCLUSION: There seems to be no major differences in patient characteristics or in the treatment techniques that were utilized.