Determination of antiepileptic drugs.

The present paper reviews gas and liquid chromatographic methods for the determination of the most commonly monitored antiepileptic drugs: phenobarbital, phenytoin, carbamazepine, primidone, ethosuximide, valproic acid and clonazepam along with a new compound, progabide. The individual classes of drugs are first treated separately to highlight specific aspects of their quantification, and this is followed by an overview of those methods permitting the concomitant analysis of two or more antiepileptic compounds. Sample preparation techniques as well as comparisons between chromatographic and other techniques are treated more fully in separate sections.