Drug monitoring in the neonate.

Drug monitoring has recently been extended into the neonatal population largely owing to improvements in analytical techniques. This important area of study represents a wide diversity of patients,-from mature infants to low-birth weight infants owing either to premature birth or intrauterine growth retardation. Neonates provide a highly variable population base which undergoes rapid changes in rate of absorption, metabolism, and elimination of drugs during the first weeks of life. Rational drug administration at this time can be very difficult. Drug monitoring in conjunction with effective therapeutic ranges can be of great assistance to the physician.