Therapeutic monitoring of treatment with antidepressants

The present status of the relationship between blood plasma concentrations of tricyclic antidepressants and clinical outcome is reviewed. Plasma levels of imipramine, desmethylimipramine and nortriptyline are generally accepted as useful clinically but it is more difficult to establish a well-defined relationship between clomipramine and amitriptyline blood levels and clinical outcome. These assays are clinically relevant, particularly in cases of treatment failure, but also in the treatment of the elderly and of overdosage. The technical problems of the assay have practically been solved with the development of new analytic methods.