title: Advances in anti-epileptic drug testing.
abstract: In the past twenty-one years, 17 new antiepileptic drugs have been approved for use in the United States and/or Europe. These drugs are clobazam, ezogabine (retigabine), eslicarbazepine acetate, felbamate, gabapentin, lacosamide, lamotrigine, levetiracetam, oxcarbazepine, perampanel, pregabalin, rufinamide, stiripentol, tiagabine, topiramate, vigabatrin and zonisamide. Therapeutic drug monitoring is often used in the clinical dosing of the newer anti-epileptic drugs. The drugs with the best justifications for drug monitoring are lamotrigine, levetiracetam, oxcarbazepine, stiripentol, and zonisamide. Perampanel, stiripentol and tiagabine are strongly bound to serum proteins and are candidates for monitoring of the free drug fractions. Alternative specimens for therapeutic drug monitoring are saliva and dried blood spots. Therapeutic drug monitoring of the new antiepileptic drugs is discussed here for managing patients with epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States. Electronic address: mkrasows@healthcare.uiowa.edu.
authors.forename: Matthew D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Krasowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, United States; ARUP Institute for Clinical and Experimental Pathology, ARUP Laboratories Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, United States.
authors.forename: Gwendolyn A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: McMillin
mesh_terms: D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants
keywords: Anticonvulsants; Drug monitoring; Drug toxicity; Epilepsy; Seizures