Abstract
Steady state serum levels have been found to be useful measurements when selecting dosage for medications. This has worked well with such drugs as digoxin, aminophylline, and phenytoin sodium, but work with neuroleptics has been less successful. A number of problems hamper research in this field. Certain medications show extremely low serum levels; problems occur with enzyme induction and multiple metabolites; and the assays are technically complex. Many studies have used flexible dose schedules which can obscure therapeutic results when additional medication is added to the regimens of nonresponsive patients or doses are reduced because of side effects. Finally, the most difficult obstacle to overcome is obtaining steady state levels in short-term acute care clinical settings where rapid patient turnover and brief hospitalization are the rule.
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Yesavage, J.A. (1985). Plasma Levels as Predictors of Clinical Response and Violent Behavior. In: Pichot, P., Berner, P., Wolf, R., Thau, K. (eds) Biological Psychiatry, Higher Nervous Activity. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8329-1_73
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8329-1_73
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