Vancomycin clearance during continuous venovenous haemofiltration in critically ill patients

To study the pharmacokinetics of vancoymcin in critically ill patients with acute renal failure treated with continuous venovenous haemofiltration (CVVHF).

Open-label study.

Hospital pharmacy centre and medical intensive care unit of the University Medical Centre Utrecht.

In a laboratory setting, the sieving coefficient (s) of vancomycin by polyacrilonitrile (PAN) haemofilters of different surface areas was studied. In one patient, the pharmacokinetics of vancomycin were studied following a single dose of vancomycin. Another patient was treated with a vancomycin dosing regimen based on data from the literature, but high trough concentrations made dose reduction necessary after 24 h of withholding therapy. After two doses of 250 mg, serum and ultrafiltrate samples were collected for pharmacokinetic evaluation. INTERVENTIONS++: CVVHF with the following operational characteristics: blood flow 200 ml/min, ultrafiltrate flow 25 ml/min, postdilution, PAN 06 hollow fibre haemofilter.

The average sieving coefficient in vitro was 0.73 +/- 0.06, 0.86 +/- 0.11, and 0.80 +/- 0.06 for the PAN 03, 06, and 10 haemofilters, respectively. Changes in the sieving coefficient by increasing the ultrafiltration rate were not clinically significant. The first patient was given a single dose of vancomycin, 1000 mg by intravenous infusion. The following pharmacokinetic data were obtained: apparent volume of distribution (Vd) 55.8 l, terminal half-life time (t(1/2 term)) 15.4 h, total clearance (Cl(tot)) 2.5 l/h, CVVHF clearance (CL(CVVHF, form 1)) 1.4 l/h, and body clearance (Cl(body)) 1.1 l/h. The average sieving coefficient during the study period was 0.89 +/- 0.03. In the second patient, the pharmacokinetics of vancomycin were studied following dose reduction: Vd 41.7 l, (1/2 term) 20.3 h, Cl(tot) 1.4 l/h, Cl(CVVHF, form 1) 1.4 l/h, and Cl(body) < 0.1 l/h. The average sieving coefficient during the study period was 0.88 +/- 0. 03. The cumulative amount of vancomycin removed by means of CVVHF during the 12-h study period was 245 mg in patient 1 and 228 mg in patient 2. CONCLUSIONS++: CVVHF with a PAN 06 haemofilter effectively removed vancomycin in two critically ill patients. The amount of vancomycin removed with CVVHF was about 250 mg per 12 h. A clear difference in body clearance in the two patients was observed. Our dosage recommendation for vancomycin in critically ill patients receiving CVVHF is a loading dose of 15-20 mg/kg followed after 24 h by 250 to 500 mg twice daily with close monitoring of the serum and ultrafiltrate vancomycin concentration.