Risperidone Maintenance Treatment in Schizophrenia

Prevention of relapse is the crucial task in the maintenance treatment of schizophrenia. This study set out to determine the duration of maintenance treatment with therapeutic risperidone dose in schizophrenia. In a multi-center, open label, randomized, controlled study design, patients with schizophrenia who were clinically stabilized following an acute episode were randomly assigned to a 'maintenance group' (optimal therapeutic doses continued for at least 1 year), a 4-week group (optimal therapeutic doses continued for 4 weeks followed by a 50% dose reduction that was maintained for at least 11 months) or a 26-week group (optimal therapeutic doses continued for 26 weeks followed by a 50% dose reduction for at least another 6 months).