This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The review article "New Antiepileptic Drugs" by Bourgeois¹ was excellent and useful. However, I treat my patients with epilepsy by monitoring serum antiepileptic drug levels. It would be very useful if Dr Bourgeois provided therapeutic serum levels for the new antiepileptic drugs that he discussed.

Carbamazepine usually causes an initial period of vertigo when patients are first exposed to it, necessitating starting the therapy at a subtherapeutic dosage for the first week or two, until the patient is used to it. Then, the dosage can be increased to a therapeutic one, and the serum levels can be checked. Does this same problem exist when initiating treatment with oxcarbazepine?

Fred D. Haruda, MD
PO Box 2115
Salina, CA 93902

1. Bourgeois BFD. New antiepileptic drugs. Arch Neurol. 1998;55:1181-1183. FREE FULL TEXT

In reply

Dr Haruda raised 2 important issues. Regarding monitoring of drug levels, no recommended therapeutic ranges have been established for the newer drugs. Although levels are available for such drugs as gabapentin, lamotrigine, . . . [Full Text of this Article]