Drug dosing during continuous renal replacement therapies

Continuous renal replacement therapies (CRRT) are used to manage fluid overload and/or renal failure. The continuous nature of the fluid and solute removal has less impact on hemodynamic variables in critically ill patients, making CRRT preferred over intermittent hemodialysis for some patients in the intensive care arena. The impact of CRRT on drug removal is variable depending on the CRRT modality, the ultrafiltrate and dialysate flow rates, the filter, and the patient's residual renal function; all of these may change from patient to patient or even in the same patient depending on the clinical status. However, CRRT modalities are generally more efficient than intermittent hemodialysis at drug removal, in some cases approximating or even exceeding normal renal function, resulting in a significant risk of subtherapeutic dosing if conventional hemodialysis dosing recommendations are followed. This annotated bibliography provides a summary of publications analyzing drug removal during CRRT, including CRRT settings and drug clearance values found in each study. Caution is warranted as findings from one study may not be generalizable to all patients due to the many factors that influence drug removal. Serum drug concentrations should be monitored when available, and patient clinical status is exceedingly important for following expected and unexpected responses to drug therapies. Reviews on general drug dosing calculations in CRRT are available elsewhere.