Published in:
Open Access
01-12-2014 | Commentary
Antibiotics and extracorporeal circulation – one size does not fit all
Authors:
João Gonçalves-Pereira, Bruno Oliveira
Published in:
Critical Care
|
Issue 6/2014
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Abstract
Dosing of antibiotics in critically ill patients is a significant challenge. The increasing number of patients undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation further complicates the issue due to inflammatory activation and to drug sequestration in the circuit. Since patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation commonly face severe infections, appropriate antibiotic selection and correct dosing is of paramount importance to improve survival. Therapeutic drug monitoring (whenever available) or population pharmacokinetics, based on readily available clinical and laboratory data, should help tailor antibiotic dosing to the individual patient.