CARBAMAZEPINE LEVELS IN THE HAIR OF PATIENTS UNDER LONG-TERM TREATMENT - A PRELIMINARY-STUDY

Carbamazepine (CBZ) levels in the scalp hair of seventeen patients (te n male and seven female), aged from five to forty years old, receiving the drug systematically were determined after hair dissolution and so lid-phase extraction procedures using both immunoassay (Abbott TDx) an d gas chromatographic (GC) techniques. Carbamazepine levels in hair ra nged from 13.9 to 66.3 mu g/g (mean 26.6 mu g/g, median 20.9 mu g/g) a ccording to GC measurements. The immunoassay technique gave slightly h igher results (mean 28.0 mu g/g, median 22.1 mu g/g). The blood concen trations of carbamazepine, using immunoassay (Abbott TDx) technique, r anged from 2.9 to 10.7 mu g/ml (mean 6.2 mu g/ml, median 5.7 mu g/ml). Our data indicate the possible use of hair testing as a marker of the dosage history of patients under long-term treatment with CBZ. (C) 19 97 Elsevier Science B.V.