Risperidone for treatment-resistant schizophrenia: Initial clinical experience in a state hospital

Objective: To examine the efficacy of risperidone, a new antipsychotic with combined serotonergic-dopaminergic antagonism, in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia in state facilities. Methods: Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) evaluations were performed on 21 patients with schizophrenia who had received risperidone therapy for 10 weeks in a state facility. Results: Five patients showed a 20% reduction on their pretreatment BPRS score. A corresponding number of patients showed an increased BPRS score during treatment, and the remainder attained a modest reduction (2-17%) in symptoms on the BPRS. Conclusions: Although risperidone was an effective antipsychotic for patients with chronic treatment-resistant schizophrenia, only a subgroup of these patients achieved substantial clinical improvement over a 10-week period.