"CATCH" Study: Correct Antibiotic Therapy in Continuous Hemofiltration in the Critically Ill in Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy: A Prospective Observational Study

Antimicrobial dosing recommendations during continuous renal replacement therapy: different databases, different doses

Meticulous antimicrobial management is essential among critically ill patients with acute kidney injury, particularly if renal replacement therapy is needed. Many factors affect drug removal in patients undergoing continuous renal replacement therapy CRRT. In this study, we aimed to compare current databases that are frequently used to adjust CRRT dosages of antimicrobial drugs with the gold standard. The dosage recommendations from various databases for antimicrobial drugs eliminated by CRRT were investigated. The book 'Renal Pharmacotherapy: Dosage Adjustment of Medications Eliminated by the Kidneys' was chosen as the gold standard. There were variations in the databases. Micromedex, UpToDate, and Sanford had similar rates to the gold standard of 45%, 35%, and 30%, respectively. The Micromedex database shows the most similar results to the gold standard source. In addition, a consensus was reached as a result of the expert panel meetings established to discuss the different antimicrobial dose recommendations of the databases.

Drug Selection and Posology, Optimal Therapies and Risk/Benefit Assessment in Medicine: The Paradigm of Iron-Chelating Drugs

The design of clinical protocols and the selection of drugs with appropriate posology are critical parameters for therapeutic outcomes. Optimal therapeutic protocols could ideally be designed in all diseases including for millions of patients affected by excess iron deposition (EID) toxicity based on personalised medicine parameters, as well as many variations and limitations. EID is an adverse prognostic factor for all diseases and especially for millions of chronically red-blood-cell-transfused patients. Differences in iron chelation therapy posology cause disappointing results in neurodegenerative diseases at low doses, but lifesaving outcomes in thalassemia major (TM) when using higher doses. In particular, the transformation of TM from a fatal to a chronic disease has been achieved using effective doses of oral deferiprone (L1), which improved compliance and cleared excess toxic iron from the heart associated with increased mortality in TM. Furthermore, effective L1 and L1/deferoxamine combination posology resulted in the complete elimination of EID and the maintenance of normal iron store levels in TM. The selection of effective chelation protocols has been monitored by MRI T2* diagnosis for EID levels in different organs. Millions of other iron-loaded patients with sickle cell anemia, myelodysplasia and haemopoietic stem cell transplantation, or non-iron-loaded categories with EID in different organs could also benefit from such chelation therapy advances. Drawbacks of chelation therapy include drug toxicity in some patients and also the wide use of suboptimal chelation protocols, resulting in ineffective therapies. Drug metabolic effects, and interactions with other metals, drugs and dietary molecules also affected iron chelation therapy. Drug selection and the identification of effective or optimal dose protocols are essential for positive therapeutic outcomes in the use of chelating drugs in TM and other iron-loaded and non-iron-loaded conditions, as well as general iron toxicity.