Antipsychotics constitute the basics for the treatment of schizophrenia. Seroquel is one of the atypical antipsychotics.
Seroquel is effective for both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Clinical research shows that, as a minimum, Seroquel is as effective as are standard antipsychotics, such as haloperidol, and is better tolerated. Patients that took part in the clinical research suffered from average to severe forms of schizophrenia: they had recurrent aggravations and the duration of the illness was rather long. This means that the results of such research should be used in general clinical practice with the patients who have acute relapses. In order to define the efficiency of use of Seroquel in the patients with a resistant form of schizophrenia, further tests are needed.
The most important advantages of Seroquel over the standard antipsychotics are the absence of the tendency to develop an extra-pyramidal syndrome and its minimal influence on prolactin of plasma. The frequency of other side effects, including liver and cardiovascular side-effect, convulsions and sexual dysfunction is appeared to be not higher than when using standard antipsychotics. As for all the medicines influencing serotonergic system, for some patients there remains the probability of gaining weight.
Taking into account the balance of efficiency, safety and tolerability, in addition to the comfort of the dosage system, Seroquel gives to a doctor a considerable advantage over the standard antipsychotics, which have been the basics of a pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia for a long time.