The effect of carbamazepine monotherapy on full blood count in epileptic patients

Objectives: To assess the effect of carbamazepine on full blood count inepileptic patients.Patients and Methods: This study was done in the Outpatient department of IbnSina Hospital in Mosul, during the period from October to September .Epileptic patients under oral carbamazepine therapy (- mg/day) wereincluded in this study. The patients were males and females. The duration oftreatment was between years. The control subjects included males and females. They were apparently healthy subjects. Blood samples were taken frompatients and controls and analyzed for full blood count including hemoglobin (Hb),mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular Hb concentration (MCHC),mean corpuscular Hb (MCH), red cell distribution width (RDW), red blood cell count(RBC count), hematocrit % (PCV), white blood cell count (WBC count) and platelets.Results: In both male and female patients, Hb was significantly lower than that in thecontrol group, respectively. The other measurements of full blood count, there wereno significant differences compared with the control group in both male and female,respectively.Conclusion: Chronic use of carbamazepine in epileptic patients is relatively safe onfull blood count. Periodical examination of full blood count is necessary for epilepticpatients under carbamazepine therapy.