[Pharmacokinetics of amikacin in infants and children].
Twenty-one children, from 41 hours to 12 years of age, were given amikacin (AMK) for suspected bacterial infections. In the 41 hours old newborn infant, the half-life of AMK was 6.9 hours. As infants' ages increase, half-lives of AMK became shorter. The trend toward a shorter half-life in an older child was the most marked during neonatal period. At an age of 7 days, the half-life was shorter than 3 hours. In infants exceeding 6 months of age, ages did not make differences in the length of half-lives. The apparent volume of distribution in newborn was, as average, 350.6 ml/kg body weight. The average for children 5 years and older was smaller, 280.7 ml/kg. The peak level-dose ratio was 2.8 (micrograms X ml-1 X mg-1 X kg) in newborns. There was a tendency that this ratio increased with age. The average ratio for children over 5 years was 4.5 (micrograms X ml-1 X mg-1 X kg). In summary, the 2 remarkable observations obtained from the present study were; 1) The trend that the half-life of AMK shortens as the child grows older was clearest in neonatal period. 2) Peak serum level produced by the same dose per kilogram body weight had a tendency to increase with ages of children.
Takimoto
M
M
Department of Pediatrics, National Sanatorium Dohoku Hospital.
Yano
K
K
Fujita
K
K
Yoshioka
H
H
Sanae
N
N
Maruyama
S
S
D000367:Age Factors; D000583:Amikacin / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn
D000583:Amikacin