A control study of risperidone in combination with clozapine in treating refractory schizophrenia

Objective To explore the efficacy and side effects of the combination therapy of risperidone and clozapine on refractory schizophrenia.Methods 101 cases with refractory schizophrenia matched in duration and types of disease were randomly divided into three groups (A, B and AB ) and treated with risperidone,clozapine and combined therapy respectively for 8 weeks. The efficacy and side effects were assessed with PANSS, CGI and TESS.Results There was no significant efficacy difference (p0.05) among group AB(62.5%), group A(60.0%) and group B(61.8%) after 8 weeks treatment. Both group AB and group A responded at the first week, and the efficacy of group AB was superior to that of the other two groups (p0.05) after 2 weeks, especially for positive symptoms(p0.05). There were fewer side effects in group AB than the other two groups.Conclusions Risperidone was a effective treatment for refractory schizophrenia as well as Clozapine, and it could be a more safe and effective treatment if two drugs were used in combination.