A retrospective analysis to estimate trough concentrations of teicoplanin in patients with suspected or documented Gram-positive infections

Abstract Teicoplanin is a glycopeptide antibiotic commonly used to treat Gram-positive bacterial infections in the clinic. The aim of this study was to provide a therapeutic reference for the clinical application and dosage regimen adjustment of teicoplanin by identifying factors associated with its plasma trough concentration (Ctrough). A retrospective study was performed on patients with suspected or documented Gram-positive infections who were hospitalized from November 2017 to January 2020 and treated with teicoplanin while undergoing routine therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). A total of 112 Ctrough trough measurements were obtained from 72 patients were included in this study. SPSS software was used for correlation analysis and receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC) analysis. The Ctrough for teicoplanin showed statistically significant relationships (P<0.05) with PLT, Scr, CLcr, eGFR, BUN and Cys-C. ROC curve analysis revealed that CLcr and eGFR were more sensitive and specific for Ctrough compared to the other factors. These findings should be considered in the clinical application of teicoplanin and for its dosage adjustment.

Therapeutic drug monitoring of gabapentin: the applicability in patients with neuropathic pain

Abstract Gabapentin is an antiepileptic drug prescribed for several neuropathic pain conditions. This study aimed to evaluate gabapentin (GAB) trough plasma concentration range and the applicability of therapeutic drug monitoring in patients with neuropathic pain. Fifty-three patients with neuropathic pain, aged 20 to 75, received gabapentin as treatment for at least 7 days. Gabapentin plasma concentration was sampled before GAB administration and quantified by liquid chromatography with a UV detector. GAB trough plasma concentration ranged between 0.40 and 11.94 µg/mL in patients with chronic neuropathic pain. No differences were observed in terms of GAB plasma concentrations between responsive and non-responsive patients. Our data suggest that the reference ranges suggested in the literature for patients with epilepsy should not be used for patients with neuropathic pain. Therapeutic drug monitoring of GAB was shown to be an important tool to assess treatment adherence.

Análise da notificação de eventos adversos através da pesquisa de cultura de segurança do paciente / Adverse event notification analysis through patient safety culture research / Análisis de la notificación de eventos adversos a través de la investigación de cultura de seguridad del paciente

Objetivo: a avaliação da cultura de segurança do paciente permite aos hospitais identificar e gerir prospectivamente questões relevantes de segurança em suas rotinas de trabalho. Método: estudo quantitativo, transversal e descritivo, ocorrida no ano de 2017 na Unidade de Terapia Intensiva Adulta em um hospital privado, localizado em Niterói/RJ. A população foram os profissionais médicos e equipe de enfermagem, utilizando análise estatística por meio de programa R, com a interface Rcmdr. Resultados: baseados nas respostas às perguntas sobre notificação de eventos aplicada com a Pesquisa de Cultura de Segurança do Paciente a 97 profissionais, com uma taxa de resposta de 85,6%, correspondendo a 83 profissionais. Menos de 45% dos participantes da pesquisa sempre notificam um erro, engano ou falha, que afete ou não o paciente, 59,0% não fizeram nenhuma notificação nos últimos 12 meses antecedentes à pesquisa e não houve diferença significativa na quantidade de notificação que destacasse uma categoria profissional, graduados ou não. Discussão: houve maior adesão à notificação de eventos pelos com maior tempo de hospital e com maior tempo naquela terapia intensiva. Não se encontrou correlação do número de notificações relatadas com o tempo de profissão e com a carga horária de trabalho. Conclusão: no que tange à conscientização de incrementar a adesão à notificação de eventos, a análise realizada contribuiu para a melhoria da segurança do paciente

Objective: ealuating the patient's safety culture allows hospitals to identify and manage relevant safety issues prospectively in their work routines. Method: a quantitative, transversal and descriptive study, carried out in 2017 at the Adult Intensive Care Unit in a private hospital, located in Niterói / RJ. The population were medical professionals and nursing staff, using statistical analysis through program R, with the Rcmdr interface. Results: based on responses to questions about event notification applied with the Patient Safety Culture Survey to 97 professionals, with a response rate of 85.6%, corresponding to 83 professionals. Less than 45% of respondents report an error, deception, or failure, affecting the patient, 59.0% did not report in the last 12 months prior to the survey, and there was no significant difference in the amount of notification that stood out a professional category, graduates or not. Discussion: there was greater adherence to the notification of events by those with longer hospital time and with more time in that intensive therapy. There was no correlation between the number of reports reported with the time of profession and the workload. Conclusion: with regard to the awareness of increasing adherence to event notification, the analysis performed contributed to the improvement of patient safety

Objetivo: la evaluación de la cultura de seguridad del paciente permite a los hospitales identificar y gestionar prospectivamente cuestiones relevantes de seguridad en sus rutinas de trabajo. Método: estudio cuantitativo, transversal y descriptivo, ocurrido en el año 2017 en la Unidad de Terapia Intensiva Adulta en un hospital privado, ubicado en Niterói / RJ. La población fueron los profesionales médicos y equipo de enfermería, utilizando análisis estadístico por medio del programa R, con la interfaz Rcmdr. Resultados: basados en las respuestas a las preguntas sobre notificación de eventos aplicada con la Encuesta de Cultura de Seguridad del Paciente a 97 profesionales, con una tasa de respuesta del 85,6%, correspondiendo a 83 profesionales. En la mayoría de los casos, la mayoría de las personas que sufren de la enfermedad de Alzheimer, una categoría profesional, graduados o no. Discusión: hubo mayor adhesión a la notificación de eventos por los con mayor tiempo de hospital y con mayor tiempo en aquella terapia intensiva. No se encontró correlación del número de notificaciones relatadas con el tiempo de profesión y con la carga horaria de trabajo. Conclusión: en lo que concierne a la concientización de incrementar la adhesión a la notificación de eventos, el análisis realizado contribuyó a la mejora de la seguridad del paciente

Estudio comparativo de equipos INR capilar "point of care" versus INR venoso, en pacientes en tratamiento con antagonistas de vitamina K / Comparison of point of care capillary international normalized ratio (INR) with INR measured in venous samples

Background: INR is used to monitor the treatment with vitamin K antagonists. A strategy to reduce waiting times for sampling is to measure INR in a capillary sample using a portable point of care (POC) type coagulometer. Aim: To evaluate the correlation of CoaguChek Pro II™, Xprecia™ and microINR™ with venous INR measured at the clinical laboratory and their ease of use. Materials and Methods: Patients provided capillary and venous blood samples for parallel tests comparing Xprecia™ Stride with CoaguChek Pro II™ and with venous INR, microINR™ with CoaguChek Pro IITM and with venous INR. The devices' ease of use was assessed surveying the sampling staff. Results: The three tested devices had good correlation coefficients with venous INR: CoaguChek Pro IITM 0.953 and 0.962; Xprecia™ of 0.912 and microINR™ of 0.932. The correlation coefficient of Xprecia™ with CoaguChek Pro IITM was 0.937 and microINR™ with CoaguChek Pro IITM was 0.976. Conclusions: CoaguChek Pro IITM, Xprecia™ and microINR™ results had a good correlation coefficient with INR measured at the laboratory. Our results indicate that, in the hands of trained users, POC-type coagulometers are reliable and acceptable for routine use in anticoagulant treatment control.

Evaluation of Viva-E Drug Testing System / 대한진단검사의학회지

BACKGROUND: The importance and usefulness of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) have been emphasized, and analysis of drugs has been increased in clinical laboratories. We evaluated the analytical performance and clinical usefulness of a recently introduced enzyme multiplied immunoassay instrument, Viva-E Drug Testing System (Dade Behring Inc., USA). METHODS: Using patients' samples and quality control material, we evaluated the analytical performance of Viva-E for a total of 11 drugs (cyclosporine, tacrolimus, mycophenolic acid, valproic acid, digoxin, theophylline, carbamazepine, phenytoin, phenobarbital, vancomycin, and gentamicin) with respect to linearity, precision, and correlations with other methods according to CLSI guidelines. Cobas Integra 800 (Roche Diagnostics, Switzerland) and API 4000 LC-MS/MS System (Applied Biosystems, USA) were used to make a comparison. In addition, we analyzed analysis time. RESULTS: Viva-E showed a good linearity (r2 > or = 0.97) for all items. Within-run CVs were within 5% and total CVs were within 10% for all drugs except for tacrolimus and digoxin at low concentrations. The system correlated well with the other methods (r=0.9283-0.9778). The time required for reporting the first sample was 11 min and the analysis time was 1.1 min. CONCLUSIONS: Since Viva-E showed a good analytical performance required for TDM in its linearity, precision, and accuracy with its wide drug menus including cyclosporine, tacrolimus, and mycophenolic acid, stat and random accessing functions, and the consolidation to a single workstation, it could be very useful in the clinical laboratory for various needs.

Capnografía y capnometría en cirugía laparoscópica / Capnography and capnometry in laparoscopic surgery

Actualmente, el capnógrafo es un instrumento considerado como esencial durante los procedimientos anestésicos-quirúrgicos. El monitoreo de la fracción espiratoria final de bióxido de carbono (ETCO2 o FEFCO2) facilita la vigilancia del bióxido de carbono (CO2) y aporte información diagnóstica. La capnografía es el registro gráfico de las concentraciones de CO2 en los gases espirados en un ciclo respiratorio, dando origen a una curva, denominada capnograma. La capnografía y capnometría proporcionan gran ayuda para la identificación de complicaciones transoperatorias asociadas a la cirugía laparoscópica

Monitoreo terapéutico de drogas

La formulación racional requiere un conocimiento adecuado de la patología del paciente y de las propiedades farmacocinéticas y farmacodinámicas del medicamento seleccionado. El clínico debe elegir un esquema de dosis que alcance una concentración óptima en el órgano enfermo, la cual no debe ser demasiado baja ni demasiado alta; en el primer caso, no se logrará el objetivo terapéutico, mientras que en el segundo, los efectos adversos o tóxicos serán molestos o intolerables para el paciente. La finalidad del monitoreo terapéutico de drogas es darle al clínico la información que le permita individualizar el tratamiento para cada uno de sus pacientes. Este módulo evalúa la utilidad del monitoreo terapéutico de drogas para ciertos medicamentos en el manejo individual de los pacientes.