Skip to main content

Antifungal Therapeutic Drug Monitoring for Invasive Aspergillosis

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Aspergillosis: From Diagnosis to Prevention

Abstract

Invasive aspergillosis is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is a strategy to optimise the outcome for a wide range of drug-disease combinations. Accumulating evidence suggests that TDM of the triazoles is required to optimise outcome of patients with invasive aspergillosis. TMD is also required for treatment with 5-flucytosine. Currently, TDM is not routinely used for the polyenes or the echinocandins. This chapter describes the indications and approach to TDM for patients receiving antifungal therapy for invasive aspergillosis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 259.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Lin, S. J., Schranz, J. & Teutsch, S. M. (2001) Aspergillosis case-fatality rate: systematic review of the literature. Clin Infect Dis, 32, 358–66.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Hardin, T. C., Graybill, J. R., Fetchick, R., Woestenborghs, R., Rinaldi, M. G. & Kuhn, J. G. (1988) Pharmacokinetics of itraconazole following oral administration to normal volunteers. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 32, 1310–3.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Boogaerts, M. A., Maertens, J., Van Der Geest, R., Bosly, A., Michaux, J. M., Van Hoof, A., Cleeren, M., Wostenborghs, R. & De Beule, K. (2001) Pharmacokinetics and safety of a 7-day administration of intravenous itraconazole followed by a 14-day administration of itraconazole oral solution in patients with hematologic malignancy. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 45, 981–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Vandewoude, K., Vogelaers, D., Decruyenaere, J., Jaqmin, P., De Beule, K., Van Peer, A., Woestenborghs, R., Groen, K. & Colardyn, F. (1997) Concentrations in plasma and safety of 7 days of intravenous itraconazole followed by 2 weeks of oral itraconazole solution in patients in intensive care units. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 41, 2714–8.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Buchkowsky, S. S., Partovi, N. & Ensom, M. H. (2005) Clinical pharmacokinetic monitoring of itraconazole is warranted in only a subset of patients. Ther Drug Monit, 27, 322–33.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Freeman, J., Heshmati, A., Holland, D., Ticehurst, R. & Lang, S. (2007) Marked increase in steady-state serum levels achieved with itraconazole oral solution compared with capsule formulation. J Antimicrob Chemother, 60, 908–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Goodwin, M. L. & Drew, R. H. (2008) Antifungal serum concentration monitoring: an update. J Antimicrob Chemother, 61, 17–25.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Hennig, S., Waterhouse, T. H., Bell, S. C., France, M., Wainwright, C. E., Miller, H., Charles, B. G. & Duffull, S. B. (2007) A d-optimal designed population pharmacokinetic study of oral itraconazole in adult cystic fibrosis patients. Br J Clin Pharmacol, 63, 438–50.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Hostetler, J. S., Heykants, J., Clemons, K. V., Woestenborghs, R., Hanson, L. H. & Stevens, D. A. (1993) Discrepancies in bioassay and chromatography determinations explained by metabolism of itraconazole to hydroxyitraconazole: studies of interpatient variations in concentrations. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 37, 2224–7.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Pasqualotto, A. C. & Denning, D. W. (2007) Generic substitution of itraconazole resulting in sub-therapeutic levels and resistance. Int J Antimicrob Agents, 30, 93–4.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Prentice, A. G. & Glasmacher, A. (2005) Making sense of itraconazole pharmacokinetics. J Antimicrob Chemother, 56 (Suppl 1), i17–22.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Lipp, H. P. (2008) Antifungal agents – clinical pharmacokinetics and drug interactions. Mycoses, 51 (Suppl 1), 7–18.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Boogaerts, M. A., Verhoef, G. E., Zachee, P., Demuynck, H., Verbist, L. & De Beule, K. (1989) Antifungal prophylaxis with itraconazole in prolonged neutropenia: correlation with plasma levels. Mycoses, 32 (Suppl 1), 103–8.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Glasmacher, A., Hahn, C., Leutner, C., Molitor, E., Wardelmann, E., Losem, C., Sauerbruch, T., Marklein, G. & Schmidt-Wolf, I. G. (1999) Breakthrough invasive fungal infections in neutropenic patients after prophylaxis with itraconazole. Mycoses, 42, 443–51.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Denning, D. W., Lee, J. Y., Hostetler, J. S., Pappas, P., Kauffman, C. A., Dewsnup, D. H., Galgiani, J. N., Graybill, J. R., Sugar, A. M., Catanzaro, A. et al. (1994) NIAID Mycoses Study Group Multicenter Trial of Oral Itraconazole Therapy for Invasive Aspergillosis. Am J Med, 97, 135–44.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Denning, D. W., Tucker, R. M., Hanson, L. H. & Stevens, D. A. (1989) Treatment of invasive aspergillosis with itraconazole. Am J Med, 86, 791–800.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Law, D., Moore, C. B. & Denning, D. W. (1994) Bioassay for serum itraconazole concentrations using hydroxyitraconazole standards. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 38, 1561–6.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Law, D., Moore, C. B. & Denning, D. W. (1999) Discrepancies associated with the measurement of itraconazole serum concentrations by bioassays. J Antimicrob Chemother, 44, 577–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Odds, F. C., Dupont, B., Rinaldi, M. G., Stevens, D. A., Warnock, D. W. & Woestenborghs, R. (1999) Bioassays for itraconazole blood levels: an interlaboratory collaborative study. J Antimicrob Chemother, 43, 723–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Darouiche, R. O., Setoodeh, A. & Anaissie, E. J. (1995) Potential use of a simplified method for determination of itraconazole levels in plasma and esophageal tissue by using high-performance liquid chromatography. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 39, 757–9.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Smith, J. & Andes, D. (2008) Therapeutic drug monitoring of antifungals: pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic considerations. Ther Drug Monit, 30, 167–72.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Hope, W. W., Billaud, E. M., Lestner, J. & Denning, D. W. (2008) Therapeutic drug monitoring for triazoles. Curr Opin Infect Dis, 21, 580–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Herbrecht, R., Denning, D. W., Patterson, T. F., Bennett, J. E., Greene, R. E., Oestmann, J. W., Kern, W. V., Marr, K. A., Ribaud, P., Lortholary, O., Sylvester, R., Rubin, R. H., Wingard, J. R., Stark, P., Durand, C., Caillot, D., Thiel, E., Chandrasekar, P. H., Hodges, M. R., Schlamm, H. T., Troke, P. F. & De Pauw, B. (2002) Voriconazole versus amphotericin B for primary therapy of invasive aspergillosis. N Engl J Med, 347, 408–15.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Walsh, T. J., Anaissie, E. J., Denning, D. W., Herbrecht, R., Kontoyiannis, D. P., Marr, K. A., Morrison, V. A., Segal, B. H., Steinbach, W. J., Stevens, D. A., Van Burik, J. A., Wingard, J. R. & Patterson, T. F. (2008) Treatment of aspergillosis: clinical practice guidelines of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clin Infect Dis, 46, 327–60.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/01/briefing/3792b2_01_pfizer.pdf.

  26. Wang, G., Lei, H. P., Li, Z., Tan, Z. R., Guo, D., Fan, L., Chen, Y., Hu, D. L., Wang, D. & Zhou, H. H. (2008) The CYP2C19 ultra-rapid metabolizer genotype influences the pharmacokinetics of voriconazole in healthy male volunteers. Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 65, 281–5.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Trifilio, S., Ortiz, R., Pennick, G., Verma, A., Pi, J., Stosor, V., Zembower, T. & Mehta, J. (2005) Voriconazole therapeutic drug monitoring in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Bone Marrow Transplant, 35, 509–13.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Smith, J., Safdar, N., Knasinski, V., Simmons, W., Bhavnani, S. M., Ambrose, P. G. & Andes, D. (2006) Voriconazole therapeutic drug monitoring. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 50, 1570–2.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Pascual, A., Calandra, T., Bolay, S., Buclin, T., Bille, J. & Marchetti, O. (2008) Voriconazole therapeutic drug monitoring in patients with invasive mycoses improves efficacy and safety outcomes. Clin Infect Dis, 46, 201–11.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Tan, K., Brayshaw, N., Tomaszewski, K., Troke, P. & Wood, N. (2006) Investigation of the potential relationships between plasma voriconazole concentrations and visual adverse events or liver function test abnormalities. J Clin Pharmacol, 46, 235–43.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Boyd, A. E., Modi, S., Howard, S. J., Moore, C. B., Keevil, B. G. & Denning, D. W. (2004) Adverse reactions to voriconazole. Clin Infect Dis, 39, 1241–4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Perea, S., Pennick, G. J., Modak, A., Fothergill, A. W., Sutton, D. A., Sheehan, D. J. & Rinaldi, M. G. (2000) Comparison of high-performance liquid chromatographic and microbiological methods for determination of voriconazole levels in plasma. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 44, 1209–13.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Pascual, A., Nieth, V., Calandra, T., Bille, J., Bolay, S., Decosterd, L. A., Buclin, T., Majcherczyk, P. A., Sanglard, D. & Marchetti, O. (2007) Variability of voriconazole plasma levels measured by new high-performance liquid chromatography and bioassay methods. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 51, 137–43.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Langman, L. J. & Boakye-Agyeman, F. (2007) Measurement of voriconazole in serum and plasma. Clin Biochem, 40, 1378–85.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Cornely, O. A., Maertens, J., Winston, D. J., Perfect, J., Ullmann, A. J., Walsh, T. J., Helfgott, D., Holowiecki, J., Stockelberg, D., Goh, Y. T., Petrini, M., Hardalo, C., Suresh, R. & Angulo-Gonzalez, D. (2007) Posaconazole vs. fluconazole or itraconazole prophylaxis in patients with neutropenia. N Engl J Med, 356, 348–59.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Ullmann, A. J., Lipton, J. H., Vesole, D. H., Chandrasekar, P., Langston, A., Tarantolo, S. R., Greinix, H., Morais De Azevedo, W., Reddy, V., Boparai, N., Pedicone, L., Patino, H. & Durrant, S. (2007) Posaconazole or fluconazole for prophylaxis in severe graft-versus-host disease. N Engl J Med, 356, 335–47.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Walsh, T. J., Raad, I., Patterson, T. F., Chandrasekar, P., Donowitz, G. R., Graybill, R., Greene, R. E., Hachem, R., Hadley, S., Herbrecht, R., Langston, A., Louie, A., Ribaud, P., Segal, B. H., Stevens, D. A., Van Burik, J. A., White, C. S., Corcoran, G., Gogate, J., Krishna, G., Pedicone, L., Hardalo, C. & Perfect, J. R. (2007) Treatment of invasive aspergillosis with posaconazole in patients who are refractory to or intolerant of conventional therapy: an externally controlled trial. Clin Infect Dis, 44, 2–12.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Courtney, R., Radwanski, E., Lim, J. & Laughlin, M. (2004) Pharmacokinetics of posaconazole coadministered with antacid in fasting or nonfasting healthy men. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 48, 804–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Courtney, R., Pai, S., Laughlin, M., Lim, J. & Batra, V. (2003) Pharmacokinetics, safety, and tolerability of oral posaconazole administered in single and multiple doses in healthy adults. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 47, 2788–95.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Ullmann, A. J., Cornely, O. A., Burchardt, A., Hachem, R., Kontoyiannis, D. P., Topelt, K., Courtney, R., Wexler, D., Krishna, G., Martinho, M., Corcoran, G. & Raad, I. (2006) Pharmacokinetics, safety, and efficacy of posaconazole in patients with persistent febrile neutropenia or refractory invasive fungal infection. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 50, 658–66.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Moore, C. B., Duddy, N. E., Denning, D. W. & Hope, W. W. (2008) Development of a bioassay for posaconazole blood levels and its use in the clinical laboratory. In ECCMID Abstract. Barcelona, Spain.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Chhun, S., Rey, E., Tran, A., Lortholary, O., Pons, G. & Jullien, V. (2007) Simultaneous quantification of voriconazole and posaconazole in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultra-violet detection. J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci, 852, 223–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Shen, J. X., Krishna, G. & Hayes, R. N. (2007) A sensitive liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry method for the determination of posaconazole in human plasma. J Pharm Biomed Anal, 43, 228–36.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Anonymous (2005) Center for Drug Elevation and Research Posaconazole (Noxafil®, Schering-Plough)-Clinical Pharmacology and Biopharmaceutics Reviews. Application 22-003, 22 December 2005. Available at http://www.fda/cder/foi/nda/2006/022003s000_Noxafil_ClinPharR.pdf.

  45. Pasqualotto, A. C., Howard, S. J., Moore, C. B. & Denning, D. W. (2007) Flucytosine therapeutic monitoring: 15 years experience from the UK. J Antimicrob Chemother, 59, 791–3.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Stamm, A. M., Diasio, R. B., Dismukes, W. E., Shadomy, S., Cloud, G. A., Bowles, C. A., Karam, G. H. & Espinel-Ingroff, A. (1987) Toxicity of amphotericin B plus flucytosine in 194 patients with cryptococcal meningitis. Am J Med, 83, 236–42.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Normark, S. & Schonebeck, J. (1972) In vitro studies of 5-fluorocytosine resistance in Candida albicans and Torulopsis glabrata. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 2, 114–21.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Soltani, M., Tobin, C. M., Bowker, K. E., Sunderland, J., Macgowan, A. P. & Lovering, A. M. (2006) Evidence of excessive concentrations of 5-flucytosine in children aged below 12 years: a 12-year review of serum concentrations from a UK clinical assay reference laboratory. Int J Antimicrob Agents, 28, 574–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan J. Howard .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Howard, S.J., Hope, W.W. (2009). Antifungal Therapeutic Drug Monitoring for Invasive Aspergillosis. In: Comarú Pasqualotto, A. (eds) Aspergillosis: From Diagnosis to Prevention. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2408-4_14

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics