Table 2.
Details for 7 cases which were considered at least probable catatonic episodes secondary to clozapine withdrawal.
| Authors | Catatonic symptoms | Treatment | Other catatonia episodes1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lee and Robertson [15] | Restless, impulsive aggressive, disoriented disturbed sleep, refusal to wear clothing, staring, periodic posturing mannerisms, irrelevant speech, and uncontrollable laughing | Oral lorazepam 8 mg/day did not work Clozapine restarted 10 days after catatonia Symptoms resolved in 3 weeks |
No |
|
| |||
| Yeh et al. [16] | Stupor, mutism, waxy flexibility, staring, posturing, negativism, and nil oral intake |
Trihexyphenidyl 2–4 mg/day Clozapine restarted to 175 mg/day within 2 weeks Catatonia resolved in 7 days |
One future |
|
| |||
| Bastiampillai et al. [17] | Urine/feces incontinence, mutism, mannerisms, stupor, posturing fever, diaphoresis, and autonomic instability |
IM lorazepam unknown dosages Treated for 48 hours with no response ECT response started in the 4th session Major improvement in the 10th session |
One past |
|
| |||
| Thanasan and Jambunathan [18] | Tremors in upper limbs, unresponsive to call or commands, febrile, flat affect, mute, and cogwheel and general rigidity |
Bromocriptine from 2.5 to 15 mg/day (33 days) Oral diazepam for 6 days Improvement by day 12 |
No |
|
| |||
| Wadekar and Syed [19] | Fixed gaze, minimal withdrawal from pain, and Bush-Francis scale score 6/14 | Lorazepam 1 mg IV with brief improvement Lorazepam 3 mg/day on days 1 and 2 Restarted on clozapine 25 mg/day on day 2 On 200 mg/day of clozapine by day 5 Rapid improvement on day 4 |
No |
|
| |||
| Kumar et al. [20] | Nil oral intake, quiet, mutism, posturing, and waxy flexibility | Lorazepam for 2 days ECT started on day 3 and improvement after 4 ECTs Discharged on risperidone 4 mg/day |
No |
|
| |||
| Wang et al. [21] | Excitement, mutism, posturing, staring, negativism, and echolalia2 | Inpatient admission with clozapine reinstitution | Four on clozapine withdrawal and five on lorazepam withdrawal3 |
ECT: electroconvulsive therapy; IM: intramuscular; IV: intravenous.
1Other catatonic episodes after clozapine withdrawal in the past or the future.
2On four previous occasions in the immediate period following clozapine cessation, the patient developed florid psychotic symptoms in the form of persecutory, grandiose delusions, disorganized behavior, and auditory hallucinations. She displayed catatonic features (Bush-Francis scale of 20 indicating severe catatonia).
3The patient initially had 4 episodes of catatonia after clozapine withdrawal. Then, she had 5 episodes of catatonia after lorazepam withdrawal, which were the focus of the article.