Vancomycin population pharmacokinetics during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy: a matched cohort study

Donadello K, Roberts JA, Cristallini S, Beumier M, Shekar K, Jacobs F, Belhaj A, Vincent JL, de Backer D, Taccone FS. Critical Care DOI 10.1186/s13054-014-0632-8

Introduction: The aim of this study was to describe the population pharmacokinetics of vancomycin in critically ill patients treated with and without extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed data from critically ill patients treated with ECMO and matched controls who received a continuous infusion of vancomycin (35 mg/kg loading dose over 4 hours followed by a daily infusion adapted to creatinine clearance, CrCl)). The pharmacokinetics of vancomycin were described using non-linear mixed effects modeling. Results: We compared 11 patients treated with ECMO with 11 well-matched controls. Drug dosing was similar between groups. The median interquartile range (IQR) vancomycin concentrations in ECMO and non-ECMO patients were 51 (28 to 71) versus 45 (37 to 71) mg/L at 4 hours; 23 (16 to 38) versus 29 (21 to 35) mg/L at 12 hours; 20 (12 to 36) versus 23 (17-28) mg/L at 24 hours (ANOVA, P = 0.53). Median (ranges) volume of distribution (Vd) was 99.3 (49.1 to 212.3) and 92.3 (22.4 to 149.4) L in ECMO and non-ECMO patients, respectively, and clearance 2.4 (1.7 to 4.9) versus 2.3 (1.8 to 3.6) L/h (not significant).