Therapeutic drug monitoring and the therapeutic reference range of levetiracetam for Chinese patients: Problems and issues. 2023

Min Shi, and Chenxi Liu, and Lien He, and Huizheng Wu, and Yin Wu
Department of Pharmacy, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang 050051, China; Graduate School, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, China.

BACKGROUND Levetiracetam (LEV) is widely used in the clinical monotherapy or multi-drug combination treatment of seizures due to its good tolerability and efficacy. Due to a lack of large-scale clinical studies, the relationship between levetiracetam concentrations, disease activity and adverse is unclear, limiting the usefulness of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) based LEV plasma levels. This study was intended to investigate factors influencing the pharmacokinetics of and the appropriate reference range of LEV concentration using available LEV TDM data. METHODS A rapid, accurate and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) method was established to determine LEV plasma concentrations. In this study, the levetiracetam plasma concentration monitoring data from 352 samples (taken from 248 patients) were used to explore the relationship between levetiracetam dose, age, combined administration with other antiseizure medications in patients with epilepsy. RESULTS Age and combined administration emerged as important affecting factors for the correlation of LEV concentration and dose. The correlation between concentration and dose was better in monotherapy. Combined administration may affect LEV concentration, especially when LEV is combined with oxcarbazepine, which might decrease the LEV concentration. CONCLUSIONS These findings emphasize the need to monitor LEV routinely LEV, especially among children and older adults when other antiseizure comedications are prescribed in the treatment regimen. LEV TDM is a well-established tool for the management of patients with epilepsy.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D012016 Reference Values The range or frequency distribution of a measurement in a population (of organisms, organs or things) that has not been selected for the presence of disease or abnormality. Normal Range,Normal Values,Reference Ranges,Normal Ranges,Normal Value,Range, Normal,Range, Reference,Ranges, Normal,Ranges, Reference,Reference Range,Reference Value,Value, Normal,Value, Reference,Values, Normal,Values, Reference
D004827 Epilepsy A disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of paroxysmal brain dysfunction due to a sudden, disorderly, and excessive neuronal discharge. Epilepsy classification systems are generally based upon: (1) clinical features of the seizure episodes (e.g., motor seizure), (2) etiology (e.g., post-traumatic), (3) anatomic site of seizure origin (e.g., frontal lobe seizure), (4) tendency to spread to other structures in the brain, and (5) temporal patterns (e.g., nocturnal epilepsy). (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p313) Aura,Awakening Epilepsy,Seizure Disorder,Epilepsy, Cryptogenic,Auras,Cryptogenic Epilepsies,Cryptogenic Epilepsy,Epilepsies,Epilepsies, Cryptogenic,Epilepsy, Awakening,Seizure Disorders
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000077287 Levetiracetam A pyrrolidinone and acetamide derivative that is used primarily for the treatment of SEIZURES and some movement disorders, and as a nootropic agent. Etiracetam,Etiracetam, (R)-,Etiracetam, R-isomer,Etiracetam, S-isomer,Keppra,UCB 6474,UCB-6474,Ucb L059,Ucb L060,Ucb-L059,Ucb-L060,alpha-ethyl-2-oxo-1-Pyrrolidineacetamide,Etiracetam, R isomer,Etiracetam, S isomer,R-isomer Etiracetam,S-isomer Etiracetam,UCB6474,UcbL060,alpha ethyl 2 oxo 1 Pyrrolidineacetamide
D000095225 East Asian People East Asians,Eastern Asian People,Eastern Asians,Far East Asians,Chinese,Japanese,Koreans,Asian People, East,Asian People, Eastern,Asian, East,Asian, Eastern,Asian, Far East,East Asian,East Asian Peoples,Eastern Asian,Eastern Asian Peoples,Far East Asian,People, East Asian,People, Eastern Asian
D000927 Anticonvulsants Drugs used to prevent SEIZURES or reduce their severity. Anticonvulsant,Anticonvulsant Drug,Anticonvulsive Agent,Anticonvulsive Drug,Antiepileptic,Antiepileptic Agent,Antiepileptic Agents,Antiepileptic Drug,Anticonvulsant Drugs,Anticonvulsive Agents,Anticonvulsive Drugs,Antiepileptic Drugs,Antiepileptics,Agent, Anticonvulsive,Agent, Antiepileptic,Agents, Anticonvulsive,Agents, Antiepileptic,Drug, Anticonvulsant,Drug, Anticonvulsive,Drug, Antiepileptic,Drugs, Anticonvulsant,Drugs, Anticonvulsive,Drugs, Antiepileptic
D016903 Drug Monitoring The process of observing, recording, or detecting the effects of a chemical substance administered to an individual therapeutically or diagnostically. Monitoring, Drug,Therapeutic Drug Monitoring,Drug Monitoring, Therapeutic,Monitoring, Therapeutic Drug

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