Drug Monitoring of Antibiotics in Critical Care Patients

Infections are critical factors for the survival of critically ill patients. A broad, high-dose and early initial therapy of antibiotics is of particular relevance. A serious problem is the high variability of antibiotic serum concentrations after administration of antibiotics in patients of the critical care units. This may result in the risk of underdosage with possible ineffective therapeutic levels as well as in the risk of overdosage with possible adverse and toxic effects. The goal of this study is to determine antibiotic concentrations in blood and to evaluate concentrations with the course of the therapy. The measurement of antibiotic concentrations in blood may allow an individual adaption of the dose in future. 100 - 200 patients will be included in this study. Only critically ill patients of the ICU of the Department of Anaesthesiology will be included that receive one or more of the following antibiotics: piperacillin/tazobactam, cefepime, meropenem, ciprofloxacin, linezolid, and colistin.