Tegretol – (Carbamazepine):
Why Tegretol – (Carbamazepine) Test ?
CLINICAL INFORMATION
Carbamazepine testhelpsto measure the level of the drug carbamazepine (tegretol) in blood. It is primarily used to treat mainly certain seizure disorders (epilepsy). It is also prescribed to stabilize other non-epileptic conditions such as the moods of people with bipolar disorders, and schizophrenia, to ease alcohol withdrawal symptoms and to alleviate certain types of nerve pain – neuropathic pain. In normal physiological conditions, 70 – 80% of carbamazepine is protein-bound and the rest 20 – 30 % circulates in free form. This free drug diffuses into the interstitial space in the brain where the pharmacological effect occurs, hence this drug's pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics are important in patients consuming these drugs. Carbamazepine test measures and monitors the therapeutic levels of carbamazepine in blood for evaluation, management and prevention of carbamazepine toxicity eg hypersensitive reactions, pancytopenia, drug-induced interactions, antidepressant toxicity, encephalitis, anticholinergic toxicity, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, rhabdomyolysis etc. Symptoms like double vision, dizziness, nystagmus, ataxia, nausea and vomiting can be improved in some cases with a slight reduction of drug dosage. Most anti-epileptic medications have an altered level of mental status and in certain cases with risk of suicidality hence CNS evaluation is constantly required. Moreover, in chronic cases, an anti-epileptic drug requires periodic hepatic and renal function monitoring to assess the patient’s organ function to prevent drug-induced disorders.
General Instructions:
Sample Requirement: Specimen - Blood sample collected from the vein. Test Preparation: None.
NOTE - Sample for specimen collections may vary based on the patient’s condition/cases according to the patient’s presenting complaints / signs or symptoms:
SPECIMEN REQUIREMENT (Special or Rare Cases) - As instructed and guided by Physician / Clinician / Pathologist / as per Laboratory’s requirements, according to procedures and protocols.
This Multi-Specialty Clinical Referral Laboratory RT DIAGNOSTICS provides precise and accurate tests with an extensive range of testing services to the medical centres to help in the diagnosis and identification of pathology in the test specimens for infectious diseases and also to evaluate the function of organ systems of the patient. It prevents further complications and helps to stabilize and restore health to near normalcy at the earliest without delay.
