AMIODARONE IN A NEWBORN WITH VENTRICULAR-TACHYCARDIA AND AN INTRACARDIAC TUMOR - ADJUSTING THE DOSE ACCORDING TO AN INDIVIDUALIZED DOSING REGIMEN

We report the successful management of recurrent ventricular tachycard ias in a newborn suffering from an intracardiac tumor. Amiodarone was the only agent able to control the tachycardias and did so as long as an individually titrated plasma concentration above 0.8 mu mol/L was m aintained. Because no therapeutic plasma concentration has been define d in children and no kinetic studies are available in this population, we optimized the dosing regimen based on a computer simulation, takin g into account the pharmacokinetic parameters of the patient and the i ndividual concentration-effect relation.