Plasma pharmacokinetics of bedaquiline administered by nasogastric tube in an intensive care unit.

We present the case of a 21-year-old man admitted to the intensive care unit with multi-organ failure due to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). TB treatment initially comprised moxifloxacin, ethambutol, linezolid and amikacin administered intravenously. Due to suspected moxifloxacin-induced liver injury, we stopped all fluoroquinolones and switched to bedaquiline (BDQ), which is only available in tablets for oral administration. Since our patient had to be fed through a nasogastric tube (NGT), BDQ was administered after being crushed and dissolved in water; drug pharmacokinetics were studied using repeated blood sampling. Therapeutic drug monitoring showed that BDQ was detectable in blood plasma with a trough concentration above the supposed efficacy threshold, suggesting that this molecule could be administered through NGT.

Use of speckle-tracking strain in preload-dependent patients, need for cautious interpretation!

BACKGROUND: In critical patients, left ventricular ejection fraction and fractional shortening are used to reflect left ventricular systolic function. An emerging technique, two-dimensional-strain echocardiography, allows assessment of the left ventricle systolic longitudinal deformation (global longitudinal strain) and the speed at which this deformation occurs (systolic strain rate). This technique is of increasing use in critical patients in intensive care units and in the peri-operative period where preload constantly varies. Our objective, in this prospective single-center observational study, was to evaluate the effect of fluid resuscitation on two-dimensional-strain echocardiography measurements in preload-dependent critically ill patients. We included 49 patients with preload dependence attested by an increase of at least 10% in the left ventricular outflow track velocity-time integral measured by echocardiography during a passive leg raising maneuver. Echocardiography was performed before fluid resuscitation (echocardiography 1) and after preload independency achievement (echocardiography 2). RESULTS: Two-dimensional-strain echocardiography was feasible in 40 (82%) among the 49 patients. With preload dependence correction, the absolute value of global longitudinal strain and systolic strain rate was significantly increased from, respectively, - 13.3 ± 3.5 to - 18.4% ± 4.5 (p < 0.01) and - 1.11 s-1 ± 0.29 to - 1.55 s-1 ± 0.55 (p < 0.001). The fluid resuscitation affects GLS and SSR in preload-dependent patients, with a shift, for GLS, from pathological to normal values. CONCLUSION: In critically ill patients, the assessment of the systolic function by two-dimensional-strain echocardiography needs prior evaluation of preload dependency, in order to adequately interpret this variable. Future studies should assess the ability of global longitudinal strain to guide fluid management in the critically ill patients.