Is the therapy with carbamazepine more effective when measuring blood levels?

41 patients receiving Carbamazepine under regular measurements of blood levels were compared with 77 patients with no or irregular controls of the blood level. 71% of the patients in the first group had a good seizure control in contrast to 61% of the patients in the second group. Furthermore, patients with regular controls reached the desired therapeutical effect earlier (on an average within 21/2 months) compared with patients with no or irregular controls (the average was 10 months). Patients who did nor react to medication with CBZ were put on another drug within a shorter time if their blood levels were measured (on the average 10 months compared with 20 months). We conclude that regular blood level controls make handling of CBZ easier. This allowed us to extend the range of indications for CBZ to a greater number to epilepsy with grand mal and focal seizures as well as to few therapy-resistant cases of epilepsy of early childhood with tonic seizures.