Case report of aripiprazole usage during pregnancy

Excerpt

Aripiprazole, a second-generation antipsychotic medication, is an efficacious treatment for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. However, its effects on pregnant and lactating women are not yet fully documented (Gentile 2004). To date, we have found two case reports of a pregnant woman using aripiprazole during some or all of the gestation period. In one recent case report, Mendhekar et al. (2006a), give an account of a 27-year-old woman who became pregnant while using this medication, and continued to utilize it through the eighth week of gestation. In another case reported by Mendhekar et al. (2006b), a 22-year-old woman became pregnant 1 year after the cessation of an aripiprazole regimen, but relapsed in week 29 of gestation, and returned to a dose of 15 mg/day. In both cases, normal, healthy babies were delivered by the mothers. Further, upon a 6-month follow up, the children had developed normally. …