Persistence of Vancomycin in the Blood during Renal Failure and Its Treatment by Hemodialysis

Abstract

VANCOMYCIN is a penicillinase-resistant antibiotic that may be used in the treatment of staphylococcal infections. Because it is known to be excreted chiefly through the kidneys in normal persons¹ this study was undertaken to define how the dosage schedule should be modified in the face of oliguric renal failure, with or without interposed hemodialysis treatment.Its persistence in the blood would be expected during oliguric renal failure, but the extent of persistence cannot simply be guessed because extrarenal metabolism and excretion may prove surprisingly important, as in a previously reported case.² Whereas reduced excretion favors maintenance of therapeutic benefits it . . .