Influence of Baseline Serum Calcium Level on Gentamicin Nephrotoxicity in Neonates at a Teaching Hospital in Saudi Arabia

The study was conducted to measure the effect of baseline serum calcium levels on the stage of nephrotoxicity caused by Gentamicin therapy for neonates' patients in teaching hospital, highlight the mechanism(s) behind this type of toxicity and setting a therapy regimen to minimize or delay such toxicity caused by Gentamicin. Retrospectively, the renal function indicators values such as BUN, Srcr and BUN-to-Srcr ratio were collected for all different groups of neonatal patients receiving Gentamicin from September 2008 to September 2009 in the Teaching Hospital of King Khalid University and Hospital of King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Collected data were analyzed and evaluated. Total of 237 neonate patients profiles were reviewed and classified to three groups based on serum calcium baseline level to normo, hypo and hypercalcemic patient. Hypocalcemic group has the highest rising rate for BUN, Srcr and BUN-to-Srcr ratio values. The protection effect of calcium was obvious. The findings revealed that baseline serum calcium level has some effect on the decline and maintaining of kidney function in neonate patient under Gentamicin therapy. The possible mechanism (s) has been discussed and a Gentamicin therapy protocol was proposed to minimize or delay nephrotoxicity in neonate patients under Gentamicin therapy.