The current efforts of intensivists focused on individual antibiotic treatment in patients suffering from sepsis has inspired us to conduct an open prospective clinical study to assess the relationship between body fluid retention (>10 L/24 hours) and the efficiency of hydrophilic time-dependent antibiotics used in critically ill patients. Polytrauma and abdominal catastrophes are the most frequent causes of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS).
Consequent body liquid retention is taken for a pathophysiological covariate modifying the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of hydrophilic time-dependent antibiotics (betalactams and carbapenems). Not only body fluid retention but also changes in renal clearance are thought to be responsible for failure in PK/PD target attainment necessary for effective antimicrobial activity.
To describe the importance of the pathophysiological covariates for the individual kinetic variables of a representative antibiotic (piperacillin) is the primary goal of this kinetic observational study.