Effectiveness of a therapeutic drug monitoring service as an aid to the control of canine seizures

Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Zimbabwe, Harare.

The results presented were derived from an anticonvulsant monitoring service, provided for two years to practising veterinary surgeons, in which samples of serum were taken from dogs treated with either primidone or phenobarbitone. Of the 19 patients assessed, 13 were controlled after the recommended changes in dose had been made. Of the six patients not completely controlled after changes in dose, four had a much lower incidence of seizures but two did not respond to treatment in spite of having high serum phenobarbitone levels. There were large variations between the doses of anticonvulsant drugs required to reach therapeutic serum levels; these variations underlined the value of routine monitoring for improving the control of canine seizures.