Paresthesia and back pain in a patient receiving vancomycin during hemodialysis

A 36-year-old woman was admitted for initiation of hemodialysis for chronic renal failure. Two days after catheter placement the patient developed a fever that persisted and resulted in subsequent removal of the catheter. Although blood cultures were negative, cultures of the catheter tip were positive for Staphylococcus epidermidis. An initial vancomycin dose was well tolerated, but the patient later experienced numbness and tingling of her lower back accompanied by pain ten minutes after initiation of the second dose. Symptoms abated when the vancomycin infusion was discontinued, and the drug was subsequently well tolerated when reinstituted at a slower infusion rate. Similar symptoms were observed five minutes into a vancomycin infusion a week later that also resolved after decreasing the infusion rate. Patients on hemodialysis receiving vancomycin should be carefully monitored during drug administration for the development of paresthesia and spasmodic lower back pain.