therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), antiepileptics, plasma concentrations/dose ratio, quality of care, evidence-based medicine

Plasma concentrations obtained routine therapeutic monitoring of antiepileptic drugs (AED( (N03 A ATC group) were compared in patients treated with one or several AED in the University Hospital in Ostrava, Czech Republic and Huddinge, Sweden. In monotherapy 33% of the analyses showed sub-therapeutic concentrations in Huddinge, compared to 38% in Ostrava. Eight percent of the analyses showed potentially toxic concentrations in Huddinge, but only 3% in Ostrava. Drug treatment of epilepsy in our two hospitals is surprisingly similar in terms of achieved plasma concnetrations, in spite of socioeconomic and cultural differences between our two countries. This may be explained by the long experiences with TDM in both hospitals, which has the inherent capacity to promote evidence based drug therapy.

Plasma concentrations obtained routine therapeutic monitoring of antiepileptic drugs (AED( (N03 A ATC group) were compared in patients treated with one or several AED in the University Hospital in Ostrava, Czech Republic and Huddinge, Sweden. In monotherapy 33% of the analyses showed sub-therapeutic concentrations in Huddinge, compared to 38% in Ostrava. Eight percent of the analyses showed potentially toxic concentrations in Huddinge, but only 3% in Ostrava. Drug treatment of epilepsy in our two hospitals is surprisingly similar in terms of achieved plasma concnetrations, in spite of socioeconomic and cultural differences between our two countries. This may be explained by the long experiences with TDM in both hospitals, which has the inherent capacity to promote evidence based drug therapy.