title: Area under the curve monitoring of cyclosporine therapy: the early posttransplant period.
abstract: The impact of a new monitoring strategy on whole blood concentrations of cyclosporine measured by a specific monoclonal radioimmunoassay was investigated in a group of 37 renal transplant patients. Before transplantation, the patients received a standard intravenous (i.v.) and oral (p.o.) test dose of cyclosporine to calculate their individual i.v. and p.o. starting dose rates to achieve a certain target steady-state cyclosporine concentration. After transplantation, the designated i.v. dose rate was continuously infused for 2 days, at which time the steady-state concentration was measured. Then, the designated oral dose for 24 h was administered while the infusion was continued at an unaltered rate. The oral absorption of cyclosporine was documented by blood samples over the following 8 h. If necessary, this overlap of i.v. and p.o. dosing was repeated until blood concentrations of cyclosporine rose at least 700 ng/ml over the steady-state concentration. By that time, the infusion was stopped and oral dosing continued. Individualized infusions led to steady-state concentrations within a range that did not exceed 1.1 times the median concentration of 472 ng/ml. Standard infusion rates in the past produced a much wider range of steady-state concentrations (9.6 times the median). Individualized infusions reached the target steady-state concentration with a significant positive bias of 17% (SEM = +/- 32%, range of -36 to +105%). Individualized oral doses reached the target average steady-state concentration (calculated by dividing the area under the concentration-time curve by the dosing interval) with an inferior precision (median = 2.6%, range of -54 to +130%) but without a positive or negative bias.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical School, Houston 77030.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grevel
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Kahan
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000328:Adult; D003524:Cyclosporins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D007408:Intestinal Absorption; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
chemical_list: D003524:Cyclosporins