Therapeutic Drug Monitoring

One of the goals of PacTox is to assist providers to maximize the benefits of drug therapy while minimizing toxicity for each patient. The absorption and elimination rates for a drug can be significantly different between patients. This is true even though prescribed medications are within the standard “therapeutic range”.

Therapeutic drug monitoring requires coordination between the provider and the laboratory. Clinical correlation must be made with laboratory results in order to fully and accurately interpret the significance of the results. For example, the laboratory must know the drugs and dosage the patient is taking, prescribed or drugs of abuse if known or when use is suspected. This information aids the laboratory in employing additional steps in providing full information for the submitted specimen. Some drugs have toxicities that occur at concentrations quite close to the therapeutic concentrations needed to provide the intended benefit. The treatment plan for these patients requires close and continued monitoring.

The range of drugs is broad and detailed consideration is best considered for a drug and/or for a class of drugs, e.g., anticonvulsants, workplace drugs, opiates, lead, etc. Our website includes this information.

Please select a test for more information.