Comparison of the EMIT test with high-performance liquid chromatography for the determination of phenobarbital in serum

The new enzyme immunoassay technique (EMIT) is compared to high-performance liquid chromatography used for determining phenobarbital in serum. After resuming the methods of both techniques, we compare the results of 116 sera collected from patients receiving treatment for epilepsy. The equation of the correlation curve is: HPLC = 0.98 EMIT + 0.12. The reliability characteristics are comparable. The enzyme immunoassay technique is less specific but more practicable.