Continuous infusion ceftazidime in intensive care: a randomized controlledtrial

We randomized 18 critically ill patients to receive ceftazidime 6 g/day by continuous infusion or bolus dosing (2 g 8 hourly), each with a loading dos e of 12 mg/kg ceftazidime. During the first 8 h, plasma ceftazidime concent ration fell below 40 mg/L in only one patient (trough 38 mg/L) from the inf usion group, compared with eight from the bolus group (2-33 mg/L) for perio ds ranging from 73 to 369 min. Thereafter all infusion patients; remained a bove 40 mg/L for 40 h of study versus 20-30% of bolus patients. The pharmac okinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics of ceftazidime suggest that co ntinuous infusions should be clinically investigated in outcome studies.