[Diurnal fluctuations in plasma carbamazepine level in children with epilepsy].

After determination of carbamazepine level in plasma by means of gas chromatography 23 profiles of 24-hour concentrations were plotted in children aged from 20 months to 15 years treated for epilepsy. In 12 of them monotherapy was given (Amizepin-Polfa in a mean daily dose of 18.7 mg/kg) while polytherapy was given to 11 children (mean daily dose was 21.1 mg/kg). Considerable fluctuations of the level of the drug were found in the plasma over 24 hours in various children, and individual differences after the administration of carbamazepine alone or with other drugs. The 24-hour fluctuations of total carbamazepine in the plasma and individual differences are due, probably, to pharmacokinetic factors due to physiological differences between patients and were correlated more to the age of the child than to the administered dose.