Physicians regularly challenge the hospital pharmacy departments to find al
ternative routes for the administration of drugs, which can't be withhold,
e.g. anti-epileptic drugs. In our hospital we were confronted with the ques
tion whether it was possible to administer oxcarbazepine rectally. In the p
resent report data on the absorption of rectally administered oxcarbazepine
is presented.
No therapeutic bloodlevels were attained after rectal administration. Admin
istration via the oral route, however, gave within the same period of time
a therapeutic bloodlevel. It is concluded that the absorption after rectal
administration of oxcarbazepine at least in this dose and frequency used is
too low to justify application in practice.