%0 Journal Article
%T Report of three cases that received maintenance treatment with risperidone as a mood stabilizer
%A Konstantinos N Fountoulakis
%A Ioannis Nimatoudis
%A Apostolos Iacovides
%A George Kaprinis
%J Annals of General Psychiatry
%D 2004
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1475-2832-3-10
%X Three bipolar patients were prospectively followed up. All were partial responders to lithium therapy alone, and unresponsive to other therapies (anticonvulsants, antidepressants, typical antipsychotics, various combinations).All manifested complete remission of symptoms after combination therapy with lithium (plasma levels above 0.8 mEq/lt) plus 1¨C3 mg of risperidone daily. The two of them are still free of symptomatology during the maintenance period for 28 and 38 months respectively. The third patient, after several months during which she was free of symptomatology discontinued lithium against the psychiatrist's advise and received only 3 mg of risperidone daily. For the next 15 months the patient was under risperidone monotherapy and free of symptomatology. She discontinued therapy to become pregnant, the illness recurred several times during pregnancy and after the delivery the patient restarted risperidone therapy. She was free of symptoms for the following 9 months until her last follow-up.The current study provides preliminary evidence concerning the long term efficacy of risperidone in the treatment of bipolar patientsThe treatment of bipolar disorder includes the treatment of psychotic symptoms, of the manic, of the depressive phase and the long-term prophylactic treatment.The efficacy of lithium in maintenance therapy is well established, while that of antiepileptic drugs or antidepressants is less well proved. The response rate to maintenance therapy is limited to nearly 50% of bipolar patients, depending on their clinical subtype [1].The use of atypical antipsychotics has expanded beyond schizophrenia to include a variety of mental disorders [2,3]. Atypical antipsychotics are being increasingly used to control acute manic episodes, and data are emerging to support their mood-stabilizing and antidepressant properties. However, while their efficacy concerning the acute manic phase is well documented [4], sufficient data are lacking concerning their usefu
%U http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.com/content/3/1/10