Comparison of the incidence and severity of extrapyramidal side effects with fluphenazine enanthate and fluphenazine decanoate.

Forty-nine schizophrenic outpatients stabilized on oral antipsychotic medication and procyclidine received 12.5 mg or 18.75 mg of fluphenazine enanthate or fluphenazine decanoate and were examined for extrapyramidal side effects one and two weeks later. Extrapyramidal side effects were present in 30 patients (61%) but were clinically significant in only 11 (22%). Fluphenazine enanthate produced more clinically significant extrapyramidal symptoms, particularly akathisia, than did fluphenazine decanoate.