[Tobramycin Concentration in Human Lung Tissue (author's transl)]

In 27 patients it was experimentally demonstrated that after an i. m. injection of 80 mg tobramycin concentrations are obtained in human lung tissue which for about two hours are higher than the minimal inhibition concentration of most gramnegative organisms. In 14 samples of the latissimus dorsi muscle no detectable tobramycin concentrations were found up two hours after injection of the same dose. The ratio of whole blood concentration and lung tissue concentration is 2 : 1. The measurement of tobramycin concentration in whole blood thus enables the concentration in lung tissue to be estimated. The results show--like all serum and tissue level assays--a high individual variation, which might be dependent on the non-defined factors of binding or metabolism, especially as during the examination period of two hours no concentration balance is accomplished between the two compartments. Administration of 80 mg tobramycin i. m. every six hours is recommended in patients with pulmonary infections due to gramnegative organisms.