Plasma Concentrations of Clonazepam Therapy in Epileptic Children

Abstract

We discuss the correlation between plasma concentration and clinical dose of Clonazepam (CZP) combined with other anticonvulsants in epileptic children. The plasma concentrations were measured in 610 samples from 141 children (73 males and 68 females) by HPLC method. We found that the clinical doses of CZP in our hospital were lower than those directed in “Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics” and in “United States Pharmacopoeia Dispensing Information”, and that therefore the plasma concentrations were distributed at the low range correspondingly with doses. A correlation between plasma concentration and clinical doses of CZP was observed and the relationship depended on sex and age of the patients. The plasma concentration of CZP in the older group (over 11 years old) was higher than that in the younger group (from 0 to 10 years old) and that in the male group was higher than that in the female group.We surveyed the relationship between the plasma concentration and dose of CZP in two patients over the longterm. The results indicated the necessity for frequent therapeutic drug monitoring of CZP over the longterm at the changes of dose and patient weight.