Antiepileptic drug pharmacokinetics in patients with epilepsy using a new microdialysis probe: preliminary...

Using a newly developed microdialysis probe which allows continuous monitoring of drugs in blood, we have studied the pharmacokinetics of various antiepileptic drugs (carbamazepine, and its primary metabolite carbamazepine-epoxide, phenytoin primidone and phenobarbitone) in 5 patients (2 male, 3 female, aged 40-50 years) with intractable epilepsy. It was observed that microdialysate pharmacokinetic profiles were comparable to those obtained by direct blood sampling. Furthermore, patients found the microdialysis probe highly acceptable and desirable and indeed preferable to that of blood sampling.