Pharmacokinetics of multiple doses of teicoplanin in Chinese elderly critical patients

The dose-effect relationship of teicoplanin has been a hot topic of clinical concern, but there was lack of the evidence of Chinese patients to optimize dosage, especially in elderly critical patients, whose plasma protein, liver and kidney function are greatly different from ordinary patients.

Elderly critical patients were divided into high-dose(800mg), medium-dose (600mg) and low-dose (400mg) groups, which consisted of 6 cases of each group. Three groups were taken intravenous blood at different times after the last administration of teicoplanin to measure teicoplanin plasma concentration.

The t_1/2 of high-dose, middle-dose and low-dose groups were 70.76 ± 11.72h, 73.60 ± 9.48h, 80.24 ± 6.75h, respectively; CL were 0.14 ± 0.09mL ∙ h^-1 ∙ kg^-1, 0.11 ± 0,05mL ∙ h^-1 ∙ kg^-1, 0.12 ± 0.06mL ∙ h^-1 ∙ kg^-1 respectively. The Cmax and AUC_0-t of the three dose groups were linearly correlated with the dose.

In Chinese elderly critical patients, t_1/2 of teicoplanin was consistent with that of literatures published, however, CL were higher. The pharmacokinetics of teicoplanin at the range of 400 ~ 800mg is linear pharmacokinetics, indicating that the dosage regimens for patients were more simply and accurately adjusted according to therapeutic drug monitoring.