A 29-year-old woman with a history of schizophrenia is brought to the physician by her father because of a recent change in her behavior over the past two weeks The father says that his daughter has become increasingly withdrawn; she has not answered any phone calls or visited her family and friends. The patient says that she has to stay at home because a foreign intelligence service is monitoring her. She thinks that they are using a magnetic field to read her mind. She first developed symptoms at age 23 and has had 7 previous psychiatric hospitalizations despite trials of haloperidol, risperidone, and olanzapine. Mental status exam shows disjointed and perseverative thinking. She is anxious and has a flat affect. Medication therapy with clozapine is initiated. Which of the following should be regularly monitored in this patient?

Question

A 29-year-old woman with a history of schizophrenia is brought to the physician by her father because of a recent change in her behavior over the past two weeks The father says that his daughter has become increasingly withdrawn; she has not answered any phone calls or visited her family and friends. The patient says that she has to stay at home because a foreign intelligence service is monitoring her. She thinks that they are using a magnetic field to read her mind. She first developed symptoms at age 23 and has had 7 previous psychiatric hospitalizations despite trials of haloperidol, risperidone, and olanzapine.  Mental status exam shows disjointed and perseverative thinking. She is anxious and has a flat affect. Medication therapy with clozapine is initiated.  Which of the following should be regularly monitored in this patient?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Eductional Objective: Patients treated with clozapine are required to have regular monitoring of the absolute neutrophil count due to the risk of life-threatening agranulocytosis.

A 29-Year-Old Woman with a History of Schizophrenia Is Brought