Therapeutic applications of tissue pharmacokinetics of antibiotics
Bergogne-Bérézin, E.
Presse Medicale 25(8): 408
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0755-4982 PMID: 8685189 Document Number: 466551
Antibiotic therapy is constantly changing. Among the criteria used to choose the right antibiotic, tissue pharmacokinetics provides useful, though controversial, information on drug distribution in organs and body fluids at potential sites of infection. Various study models have established i) the high rate of penetration of third-generation cephalosporins, aminoglycosides and fluoroquinolones into cerebrospinal fluid when meninges are inflamed; and ii) high levels of macrolides and fluoroquinolones in lung parenchyma and other respiratory sites of infection. These data should be analyzed in terms of pharmacodynamic activities in sites in the cerebrospinal fluid where the minimum inhibitory concentration and the minimum bactericidal concentration have been determined for the pathogen. In other situations, the criteria with the most clinical significance is the correlation between tissue concentrations and clinical outcome. There has been much progress in targeted (liposomes) antibiotic therapy with promising advances toward better tissue distribution of drugs.