Abstract
The effects of open heart surgery on amikacin concentration time-curves were investigated in eight patients who were scheduled for open heart surgery at a Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Department. A 500 mg single dose of amikacin was administered parenterally to the volunteers pre- and postoperatively and the serum concentration time-curves were compared. Serum amikacin levels after pre-operative intramuscular (IM) administration did not reach therapeutic values. By comparison, preoperative and postoperative IM or intravenously (IV) administration resulted in therapeutic serum amikacin levels. It was concluded that IM administration preoperatively was not appropriate. Serum levels of amikacin were also shown to fall below therapeutic values 8 h after administration. It is recommended that dosing intervals with amikacin should not exceed 8 h.
Keywords
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.