<b>Therapeutic control of phenobarbital</b> - DOI: 10.4025/actascihealthsci.1082

Abstract

Despite the development of new drugs, the phenobarbital still has prominence in the treatment of the epilepsy for being complete, effective and to present low cost. The relatively narrow therapeutical range and the risk of the development of convulsive crises in case the dosage is not well adjusted, make the therapeutical control a routine procedure. The aim of this work is to characterize the profile of the patients submitted to the therapeutical control of phenobarbital in a laboratory of clinical analysis in Paraná State from 2004-2005. A survey at the laboratory data showed that 104 people underwent 119 serum determination of phenobarbital. From them, 116 did it for the control of a therapeutical drug. The majority of the population was adult attending a request of a health public service. It was observed that 49.1% of the results were above or below the therapeutical range. In 49 cases, patients were using phenobarbital alone and in 67 cases patients were using phenobarbital along with other antiepileptic agents. The serum determination of phenobarbital levels is an advantageous front to the great number of factors that influences the concentration of the drug with the clinical state of the patient