[Determination of antiepileptic drug levels in the blood: day-to-day experience in an out-patient clinic for epilepic children (author's transl)].

The possibility of determining the blood levels of antiepileptic drugs represents a considerable advance, under certain circumstances, objective supervision of anticonvulsant therapy. In particular in the case of an unsatisfactory therapeutic result, this procedure helps to reveal the causes of failure (e.g. incorrect administration, poor absorption, interaction with other drugs). Like many new diagnostic methods this method is rather costly; hence, its use within the daily routine work should be limited to definite indications. Apart from its use in cases of inadequate control of epilepsy and the appearance of side effects, other indications for implementation of the method are the establishement of correct dosation of antiepileptic drugs in new patients and drug intercurrent illness, which frequently necessitates the use of additional drugs.