[Monitoring of the Blood Concentrations of Antiepileptic Drugs (TDM)]

The incidence of epilepsy is high in infants/children and elderly persons. Patients with epilepsy account for approximately 1% of the population. This chronic cerebral disorder is characterized by repeated epileptic seizures related to excessive excitation of the brain, and it is important to reduce such seizures in life. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is useful for evaluating the treatment response and checking for adverse effects. When interpreting the results of measurement of the blood concentrations of antiepileptic drugs, the duplication of various factors must be understood. In this article, matters that clinical technologists face in routine work are presented/arranged so that the results of TDM may be adequately interpreted. In 270% of patients with epilepsy, as a nervous disease, seizures may be reduced by administering adequate therapy with antiepileptic drugs; the response rate is high. If measurements deviate from the reference range, clini- cal technologists should utilize their specialized knowledge and adequately evaluate the values obtained, con- tributing to drug therapy. [Review].