Life-Threatening Effects of Antipsychotic Drugs

Life-Threatening Effects of Antipsychotic Drugs describes in detail more than 20 life-threatening effects associated with antipsychotics, presents the best available data on their incidence and case fatality, and gives comprehensive advice on diagnosis, management and preventive strategies. In addition, the book discusses the benefit of antipsychotic medication in a range of therapeutic indications, and demonstrates the gain in life-expectancy associated with clozapine use in severe mental illness despite its serious, potentially life-threatening adverse effects.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Cardiovascular Adverse Effects of Antipsychotic Drugs Chapter 1 - Sudden Cardiac Death and Ventricular Arrhythmias Peter Manu, Anca Dan and Gheorghe-Andrei Dan Chapter 2 - Myocarditis and Cardiomyopathy Kathlyn J. Ronaldson Chapter 3 - Pulmonary Embolism Peter Manu, Christopher Hohman, James F. Barrecchia, and Matisyahu Shulman Chapter 4 - Orthostatic Hypotension James J. Gugger and Megan J. Ehret Part II: Hematological Complications of Treatment With Antipsychotic Drugs Chapter 5 - Severe Neutropenia and Agranulocytosis John Lally and Robert J. Flanagan Part III: Antipsychotic-Related Pathology of the Digestive System Chapter 6 - Gastrointestinal Hypomotility and Dysphagia Robert J. Flanagan and Kathlyn J. Ronaldson Chapter 7 - Liver Failure Katie F.M. Marwick 8. Pancreatitis Peter Manu, Matisyahu Shulman and Kathlyn J. Ronaldson Part IV: Major Neurological and Neuromuscular Adverse Effects of Antipsychotic Drugs Chapter 9 - Seizures Tilman Steinert and Walter Fröscher Chapter 10 - Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome Julie Langan Martin and Daniel J. Martin Chapter 11 - Heat Stroke and Rhabdomyolysis Kathlyn J. Ronaldson Part V: Metabolic Complications of Antipsychotic Drug Treatment Chapter 12 - Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Davy Vancampfort, Richard I.G. Holt, Brendon Stubbs, Marc De Hert, Katherine Samaras and Alex J. Mitchell Part VI: Other Life-Threatening Effects of Antipsychotic Drugs Chapter 13 - Interstitial Nephritis and Interstitial Lung Disease Kathlyn J. Ronaldson Part VII: Clinical and Forensic Challenges in the Use of Antipsychotic Drugs Chapter 14 - The Benefits of Antipsychotic Drugs: Symptom Control and Improved Quality of Life Jian-Ping Zhang Chapter 15 - Antipsychotic-Related Mortality: Risk and Strategy for Improved Clinical Management Dan Cohen Chapter 16 - Forensic Investigation of Antipsychotic-Related Deaths Robert J. Flanagan and Peter Manu

About the Author :
Peter Manu, MD is Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at Hofstra University School of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Clinical Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He aditionally serves as Director of Medical Services, Hillside Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center. Prior to this, he served as the Medical Director, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center. In 2012 he received the Fulbright Specialist in Public/Global Health award from the U.S. Department of State. He is the author of 5 books, 68 journal articles, and 30 book chapters in psychiatry. He serves as an ad hoc reviewer for 38 journals in the areas of psychology, psychiatry, medicine, and pharmacology. Professor Bob Flanagan is Consultant Clinical Scientist and Director, Toxicology Unit, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Clinical Lead for Toxicology, Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. He has published over 200 scientific papers and four books. Particular interests have been treatment of mental illness especially as regards use of antipsychotics, notably clozapine, treatment of cancer, especially in respect of the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as imatinib, and the diagnosis of substance abuse, especially misuse of volatiles such as butane. He led on toxicology training for the Association for Clinical Biochemistry for many years, and regularly advises medical professionals, police, coroners, and prosecution and defence lawyers on toxicological issues. He has also acted as a consultant to the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime, most recently as regards advising on methodology for the detection of drug-facilitated crime, and to the World Health Organization, notably in Serbia/Kosovo in 2007, and also in the Middle East and in India. He is immediate past-President of the British Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Review :
"… this book …presents important evidence-based information on side effects of antipsychotic drugs and how to prevent and counteract these. The book is organized in seven parts, all of them dealing with adverse effects of antipsychotic drugs in different organ systems: cardiovascular adverse effects, haematological complications, the digestive system, neurological and neuromuscular, metabolic complications, other life-threatening effects such as interstitial diseases in kidney and lung and, finally, a chapter dealing with clinical and forensic challenges in the use of antipsychotic drugs. All subjects are treated in a consistent manner, starting with an epidemiological overview, followed by some background regarding pathobiology, continuing over clinical signs to management, ending up with suggestions for prevention of the conditions. The book has a richness of tables and figures facilitating the reading and understanding of the book’s important information and many messages of, e.g. Hazard ratios, odds ratios, clinical algorithms, all making it easily accessible. … The book is highly relevant to the clinically working psychiatrist, his/her assistants, medical students and other with interest in the interphase between psychiatric illnesses, somatic diseases, their treatment and the always present balance between effect and side effects of treatments." --Mikkel Hojlund, Povl Munk-Jørgensen, Nordic Journal of Psychiatry