Efficacy of Low-Dose Aripiprazole to Treat Clozapine-Associated Tardive Dystonia in a Patient with Schizophrenia

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Tardive dystonia (TDt) is a debilitating side effect of long-term antipsychotic treatment. Even though TDt is associated with increased psychiatric morbidity, mortality, and severely decreased quality of life, there are no treatment modalities for TDt. Clozapine has been used as a treatment option for TDt in patients with schizophrenia. Interestingly, several recent case reports have indicated that it can enhance or induce TDt. We report a case of clozapine-associated TDt that was treated with low-dose aripiprazole (0.5 mg/day). The patient was a 51-year-old Korean woman with schizophrenia that had been admitted to the psychiatric ward for her florid psychotic symptoms. The patient's TDt symptoms began to develop after 1 year of clozapine (200 mg/day) treatment. Her motor symptoms improved markedly after adding low-dose aripiprazole (0.5 mg/day) to clozapine (175 mg/day). Aripiprazole is a dopamine D2 receptor partial agonist that exhibits partial agonistic activity against serotonin-1A (5-HT1A) receptors and full antagonistic activity against 5-HT2A receptors. The dopaminergic tone in the surrounding milieu is important for aripiprazole activity. In addition, antioxidative effects of aripiprazole may manage the neurotoxic effects of clozapine. To our knowledge, only one report has described a patient with clozapine-associated TDt that was treated with moderate doses of aripiprazole (10-15 mg). This case report may be the first report of low-dose aripiprazole treatment of clozapine-associated TDt.