Aminoglycoside therapy

Abstract

As we were reminded in the two preceding articles in this series, on antiepileptic drug therapy (November, page 287) and lithium therapy (January, page 269), serum concentrations of a drug must be high enough to assure therapeutic response but not so high as to produce toxic effects. Achieving this happy medium can be especially difficult with aminoglycosides because of the many physiologic and pathologic changes that accompany serious infection. In this article, Dr Ackerman and his coauthors discuss methods of monitoring aminoglycoside therapy to achieve optimum dosage and describe the method they have found most reliable. For a refresher on the basic principles of therapeutic drug monitoring, you may refer to the first article in this series (October, page 121).