ANTIEPILEPTIC DRUG MONITORING IN THE EPILEPSY MONITORING UNIT
Abstract number :
3.116
Submission category :
Year :
2002
Submission ID :
95
Source :
www.aesnet.org
Presentation date :
12/7/2002 12:00:00 AM
Published date :
Dec 1, 2002, 06:00 AM
Authors :
Abuhuziefa Abubakr, Ilse Wambacq. NJ Neuroscience Institute, Seton Hall University, Edison, NJ; NJ Neuroscience Institute, Seton Hall University, Edison, NJ
RATIONALE: This study examined the utility of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) in epilepsy patients with gradual reduction of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) as part of presurgical evaluation in an epilepsy-monitoring unit (EMU).
METHODS: Thirty patients received a routine daily TDM while admitted to the hospital, whereas 14 patients received a single TDM on admission only. Data on the number of seizures experienced by the 2 patient groups were analyzed for the impact of the following independent variables on the precipitation of seizures in the EMU: 1) day of seizure occurrence in the EMU (day 1-2, day 3-4, day 5 and up); 2) day of last seizure occurrence before admission to the EMU (less than 7 days prior to admission, 7 days or more before admission).
RESULTS: Overall, single TDM resulted in a higher average of seizure frequency than serial TDM. Additionally, in the patients whose last preadmission seizure occurred less than 7 days prior to hospitalization, higher seizure occurrence was observed during the first two days after admission. However, this effect was only noted in patients with single TDM.
CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that routine daily TDM is unnecessary for AEDs drug withdrawal during presurgical evaluation of epilepsy patients in the EMU setting.