Skip to main content
Indian Journal of Psychiatry logoLink to Indian Journal of Psychiatry
. 1989 Jan-Mar;31(1):70–72.

HOW RELIABLE IS 24 HOUR SERUM LITHIUM LEVEL AFTER A TEST DOSE OF LITHIUM IN PREDICTING OPTIMAL LITHIUM DOSE?

K Kuruvilla 1,, KS Shaji 2
PMCID: PMC2990873  PMID: 21927360

SUMMARY

57% of a group of 35 patients treated with Lithium Carbonate at dosages predicted by the nomogram suggested by Cooper et al (1973) failed to reach therapeutic levels of serum lithium. This finding casts serious doubts on the usefulness of the claim by Cooper et al (1973 & 1976) that 24 hour serum lithium level after a test dose of 600 mg. lithium can predict the daily lithium dose.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (127.0 KB).


Articles from Indian Journal of Psychiatry are provided here courtesy of Wolters Kluwer -- Medknow Publications

RESOURCES