Pharmacokinetics and clearance of ganciclovir during continuous hemodiafiltration.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the ganciclovir pharmacokinetics and clearance during continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration.

DESIGN

Case report.

SETTING

General intensive care unit of a tertiary care emergency department.

PATIENTS: A 63-yr-old female who has a history of active behçet's disease that has been controlled with oral prednisolone, and who has chronic renal failure.

INTERVENTIONS: None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN

RESULTS

A 5-mg/kg dosage of ganciclovir was administered intravenously over a 60-min period under continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration. Samples from the arterial and venous blood catheters and from the ultradiafiltrate were collected over the next 12 hrs to calculate pharmacokinetic parameters and clearance of hemodiafiltration. The pharmacokinetic parameters were as follows: half-life of elimination phase 12.6 hrs; total clearance 0.55 mL/min/kg; and volume distribution of steady state 27.07 L. The clearance of hemodiafiltration was 0.63 mL/min/kg.

CONCLUSION

Continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration is effective in removing ganciclovir from the blood.