Klin Farmakol Farm. 2016;30(2):16-22 | DOI: 10.36290/far.2016.014

Therapeutic monitoring of antiepileptic drugs, part II - “new” antiepileptics, special groups of patients

Ivana Kacířová^1,2, Milan Grundmann¹

¹ Ústav klinické farmakologie, Lékařská fakulta, Ostravská univerzita, Ostrava

² Oddělení klinické farmakologie, Ústav laboratorní diagnostiky, Fakultní nemocnice Ostrava

Therapeutic drug concentration monitoring was initiated for a number of antiepileptic drugs and currently is used to establish

optimal therapy regimens for individual patients with epilepsy. The “newer” antiepileptic drugs generally have probably fewer

adverse effects, more predictable pharmacokinetics, and wider therapeutic margins than “old” drugs. However, routine therapeutic

drug monitoring is often used, particularly for lamotrigine, levetiracetam, stiripentol, and zonisamide, mainly due to inter-individual

variation in metabolism and clearance. For other drugs, therapeutic drug monitoring may be clinically useful to assess compliance

or to adjust dosing in organ failure. Generalized reference ranges have yet to be proposed for some newer antiepileptic drugs;

however, even in the absence of generalized reference ranges, an individual therapeutic range can be established for patients

treated with newer antiepileptic drugs.

Keywords: therapeutic drug monitoring, newer antiepileptic drugs, individual therapeutic range

Published: September 19, 2016  Show citation