title: Intravitreal ganciclovir concentration after intravenous administration in AIDS patients with cytomegalovirus retinitis: implications for therapy.
abstract: To determine whether therapeutic intravitreal concentrations of ganciclovir are achieved after intravenous administration, vitreous samples were obtained intraoperatively from 23 eyes of 22 AIDS patients with retinal detachments associated with cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis. The mean intravitreal ganciclovir concentration of all samples was 0.93 +/- 0.39 microgram/mL (3.6 +/- 1.5 microM). This level is near the published trough serum concentrations obtained with every-12-h intravenous dosing and well below the peak. It is significantly below the concentration of ganciclovir required to achieve 50% of viral plaque formation for many human CMV strains. Only a small decrease in vitreous drug levels was observed as a function of time after last dose. Intravenous administration of ganciclovir results in near-steady-state subtherapeutic intravitreal ganciclovir concentrations for many CMV isolates. This may explain the difficulty of long-term complete suppression of CMV retinitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine.
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Kuppermann
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Quiceno
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Flores-Aguilar
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Connor
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Capparelli
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Sherwood
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Freeman
mesh_terms: D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000328:Adult; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D017726:Cytomegalovirus Retinitis / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D015774:Ganciclovir / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012163:Retinal Detachment / Q000378:metabolism / Q000601:surgery; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015774:Ganciclovir