Specimen Requirements

Title

Topiramate (Topamax)

Specimen Requirement

Collect red top/0.5 mL serum, within 45 minutes centrifuge and pipette serum to a screw top transport tube, indicate sample type on tube and send.

Alternate sample: Sodium heparin, lithium heparin or lavender EDTA tube. Plasma must be separated and transferred to a screw top transport tube immediately.

Do not use a gel-barrier tube. The use of gel-barrier tubes is not recommended due to slow absorption of the drug by the gel. Depending on the specimen volume and storage time, the decrease in drug level due to absorption may be clinically significant.

Methodology

Homogeneous Enzyme Immunoassay

Stability

Room temp: 14 days, Refrigerated: 7 days, Frozen: 4 weeks

Reference Range

By Report*

Turnaround

2-4 days

Clinical Use

Topiramate is an anticonvulsant used as an adjunctive treatment of partial-onset epilepsy. Therapeutic drug monitoring is useful to optimize dose and avoid toxicity.

Test Code

TOP