title: Unraveling the mysteries of serum theophylline levels: a patient care report in the light of pharmacokinetics.
abstract: One of our patients had trouble maintaining therapeutic and safe levels of theophylline, even though we were careful in planning and monitoring her drug regimen. This case report shows how we were able to use principles of pharmacokinetics to distinguish among plausible explanations for her experience. We discovered that she was not taking the drug consistently as prescribed and that supervised administration resolved apparent contradictions between doses and serum levels. We believe that physicians can use the same information and methods that we used to get better and safer results from theophylline therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bussey
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Quandt
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rospond
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Loesch
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications; D010349:Patient Compliance; D013806:Theophylline / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*
chemical_list: D013806:Theophylline