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[Monitoring theophylline in premature newborn infants]
R M Closa1, A Tarres Roure, A Gómez Papi
1Servicio de Pediatría, Hospital Joan XXIII, Tarragona.
Insights
Determining the optimal oral theophylline dose for premature infants is crucial. A maintenance dose of 3 mg/kg every 12 hours is recommended to achieve therapeutic theophylline levels (4-10 µg/mL) in premature neonates.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal Pharmacology
- Pediatric Pharmacokinetics
- Clinical Pharmacy
Abstract:
In order to defined the PO theophylline dose which produced effective theophylline concentrations between 4-10 micrograms/ml in prematures babies, we analized the theophylline pharmacokinetic of 6 adequate weight for gestational age female prematures, aged 31-34 gestational weeks, to which we administered PO 5 mg/kg of theophylline as the attack dose, following by a PO maintained dose of 2.5 mg/kg/12 h. In steady-state we did the pharmacokinetic studies after the administration of one dose. We found that only maintenance doses of 2.5 mg/kg/12 h produced therapeutic theophylline concentrations. Considering the pharmacokinetic data, we conclude that PO maintenance dose of 3 mg/kg/12 h of theophylline will be necessary to reach effective theophylline concentration.