Abstract
Katayama and colleagues proposed in their article a therapeutic window for lamotrigine
in affective disorders between 5 and 11 μg/mL. Despite potential differences in lamotrigine
metabolism, the results of their retrospective study in a Japanese population match
nicely with what we have previously reported in a Caucasian population with rapid
cycling bipolar disorder. It is suggested that not only in epilepsy, but also in mood-disordered
patients clinicians should rather consider lamotrigine plasma levels than dosage when
in doubt about the efficacy of treatment.
Key words
bipolar disorder · depression treatment · lamotrigine (lamictal) · therapeutic drug
monitoring
