No convincing evidence suggests that atypical antipsychotic medications are superior to typical medications for the treatment of adolescents with psychosis .
However , atypical antipsychotic medications may be more acceptable to young people because fewer symptomatic adverse effects are seen in the short term .
Little evidence is available to support the superiority of one atypical antipsychotic medication over another , but side effect profiles are different for different medications .
Treatment with olanzapine , risperidone and clozapine is often associated with weight gain .
Aripiprazole is not associated with increased prolactin or with dyslipidaemia .
Adolescents may respond better to st and ard-dose as opposed to lower-dose risperidone , but for aripiprazole and ziprasidone , lower doses may be equally effective .
BACKGROUND Schizophrenia often presents in adolescence , but current treatment guidelines are based largely on studies of adults with psychosis .
Over the past decade , the number of studies on treatment of adolescent-onset psychosis has increased .
The current systematic review collates and critiques evidence obtained on the use of various atypical antipsychotic medications for adolescents with psychosis .
OBJECTIVES To investigate the effects of atypical antipsychotic medications in adolescents with psychosis .
We review ed in separate analyses various comparisons of atypical antipsychotic medications with placebo or a typical antipsychotic medication or another atypical antipsychotic medication or the same atypical antipsychotic medication but at a lower dose .
FDG-PET in never-previously medicated psychotic adolescents treated with olanzapine or haloperidol
We acquired Positron emission tomography with 18-F-deoxyglucose ( FDG-PET ) and anatomical MRI in 30 never-previously medicated psychotic adolescents ( ages 13 - 20 ) .  ( FDG-PET ) was obtained at baseline and after 8 - 9 weeks of a r and omized double-blind trial of either olanzapine or haloperidol .  Neuropsychological tests of executive function were also obtained . Patients carried out the  serial verbal learning task , a modification of the California Verbal Learning Test , during the uptake of the FDG . PET scans were coregistered with spoiled gradient MRI ( TR=24 , TE=5 , flip angle 40 degrees , slice thickness 1.2 mm , field of view 230 mm ) for accurate anatomical identification of regions of interest traced on the MRI . Twenty-two of the thirty patients completed the second PET and clinical evaluation . Individuals treated with olanzapine  increased relative metabolic rates in the frontal lobe more than the occipital lobe while patients treated with haloperidol failed to increase frontal metabolic rates and did not show an anteroposterior gradient in medication response .  Haloperidol  increased striatal metabolic rate more than olanzapine . Both drugs increased thalamic metabolic rates and this increase was significantly larger in younger ( age 13 - 15 ) than older ( 16 - 21 ) patients
No convincing evidence suggests that atypical antipsychotic medications are superior to typical medications for the treatment of adolescents with psychosis .
However , atypical antipsychotic medications may be more acceptable to young people because fewer symptomatic adverse effects are seen in the short term .
Little evidence is available to support the superiority of one atypical antipsychotic medication over another , but side effect profiles are different for different medications .
Treatment with olanzapine , risperidone and clozapine is often associated with weight gain .
Aripiprazole is not associated with increased prolactin or with dyslipidaemia .
Adolescents may respond better to st and ard-dose as opposed to lower-dose risperidone , but for aripiprazole and ziprasidone , lower doses may be equally effective .
BACKGROUND Schizophrenia often presents in adolescence , but current treatment guidelines are based largely on studies of adults with psychosis .
Over the past decade , the number of studies on treatment of adolescent-onset psychosis has increased .
The current systematic review collates and critiques evidence obtained on the use of various atypical antipsychotic medications for adolescents with psychosis .
OBJECTIVES To investigate the effects of atypical antipsychotic medications in adolescents with psychosis .
We review ed in separate analyses various comparisons of atypical antipsychotic medications with placebo or a typical antipsychotic medication or another atypical antipsychotic medication or the same atypical antipsychotic medication but at a lower dose .