is determination of the red blood cell lithium concentration useful?
INTRODUCTION: Despite a narrow therapeutic index, lithium remains a cornerstone for the treatment of bipolar disease. As lithium poisoning may result in life-threatening neurotoxicity, measurement of the lithium concentration is mandatory in drug monitoring as well as for the diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of lithium poisoning. However, toxic symptoms do not always correlate with plasma concentrations. Therefore, more reliable indicators have been proposed, including measurement of the red blood cell (RBC) lithium concentration and the RBC-to-plasma lithium ratio. PLASMA AND RBC LITHIUM CONCENTRATIONS: Few studies have reviewed the relative utility of these measurements both in monitoring therapy and in poisoning, and they have involved only small numbers of subjects. Moreover, factors influencing plasma and RBC lithium concentrations are numerous, including gender, age, dosage, treatment duration, co-medications, and underlying diseases. In treated patients, investigated using in
Related Questions
- Does ISBT 128 require that a red blood cell product be antigen typed on every donation or can I label the product as antigen negative based on historical antigen testing of the donor?
- Is it safe to omit the 37 degrees C reading from pretransfusion red blood cell antibody detection testing?
- What does red blood cell mean?
