Schizophrenia is a common disease, characterized by progressive functional decline exacerbated by psychotic relapses that often result from a lack of full adherence to antipsychotic (APS) medication. Although atypical APS medications do not have clear therapeutic windows, as generally required for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), measuring APS plasma levels in the context of a population expe...

BACKGROUND Gentamicin and vancomycin are commonly used in neonatal units for the treatment of life-threatening infections. This study aimed to describe the dosage regimen and the approach to therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) for both antibiotics in units that participate in a UK neonatal network. METHODS Questionnaires were sent to all units across the Extended Neonatal Network, requesting de...

Target concentration intervention (TCI) is proposed as an alternative conceptual strategy to therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). It is argued that the idea of a therapeutic range has limited the interpretation of measured drug concentrations and diminished the anticipated clinical benefit to patients by use of an oversimplified pharmacodynamic model. TCI on the other hand embraces pharmacokineti...

Despite the fact that pharmacokinetic exposure of kinase inhibitors (KIs) is highly variable and clear relationships exist between exposure and treatment outcomes, fixed dosing is still standard practice. This review aims to summarize the available clinical pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data into practical guidelines for individualized dosing of KIs through therapeutic drug monitoring (TD...

medication errors (mes) are the most common error in icus. in fact, 78% of all serious errors in icus are due to mes. therefore, detecting mes has vital significance. the goal of this study was to investigate the frequency, type and consequences of different types of errors including prescribing, transcribing and administration errors in an icu of a large teaching hospital. disguised direct obs...

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is commonly used to maintain "therapeutic" drug concentrations. Even in compliant patients, with "average" drug kinetics, TDM is useful to identify the causes of unwanted or unexpected responses, prevent unnecessary diagnostic testing, improve clinical outcomes, and even save lives. TDM has greatest promise in certain special populations who are: (a) prone to u...

Drug safety monitoring is important in children. Young age, polypharmacy, prolonged hospitaliza-tion, being critically ill and use of unlicensed and off-label drugs have been identified as risk factors which predispose a child to experience an adverse drug reaction. In our country, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, setting up of intensive care units, increasing availability of imaging studies, and the int...

(Suggestions are based on Level III and IV evidence) • In both adults and children, C2 monitoring of CSA is superior to C0 as a predictor of AUC 0–4 and AUC 0–12. The C3 level is marginally superior to C2 for AUC 0–12. • Targeting AUC 0–4 levels for CSA of greater than 4400 ng/mL or C2 levels of greater than 1.5 by the end of the first week post transplant is associated with less acute rejectio...

Normal and Abnornml De the Human Nervous Syste Lemire, J. D. Loeser, R. VN -.E. C. Alvord. (Pp. 421 $27.50.) Harper and Row USA. 1975. 'Fills a long-felt gap' is a viewers but the phrase is ii this book. In a clear an way it gathers together a of information about the and growth of the hun system and gives a brief the major developmental Standardised graphs pres formation in a manner rapid refe...

We report on 28 patients who underwent voriconazole monitoring because of disease progression or toxicity. A relationship (P<0.025) between disease progression and drug concentration was detected. Favorable responses were observed in 10/10 patients with concentrations above 2.05 microg/ml, while disease progressed in 44% (n=18) of patients with concentrations below 2.05 microg/ml.