[Clinical follow-up -- EEG -- serum determinations: therapeutic experience with clozapine]

Abstract

The effects of clozapine were studied during 5 years at the Villejuif psychiatric hospital in outside and inside patients. Among the results obtained in 114 cases treated, we report here the results obtained in a group of 18 patients in which the longitudinal therapeutic data given by EEG recordings were confronted with those obtained for the plasma levels of the drug and it demethyl metabolite. This study shows on one side that EEG abnormal activities are frequent and need to be taken in account. On another hand we found an important inter as well as intra-variability of the plasma concentrations. For the intra-individual variations a large number of responsible factors was found. The interest to perform the demethyl metabolite dosage is discussed.