COMPARISON OF TACROLIMUS ABSORPTION IN TRANSPLANT PATIENTS RECEIVING CONTINUOUS VERSUS INTERRUPTED ENTERAL NUTRITIONAL FEEDING

OBJECTIVE: TO determine the effect of enteral nutritional feeding on t he absorption of tacrolimus administered through a nasoduodenal tube t o organ transplant patients. METHODS: A nonrandomized, prospective stu dy of tacrolimus absorption was performed in 10 liver or lung transpla nt patients who received Osmolite enteral nutrition through a nasoduod enal feeding tube. Multiple blood samples were collected just prior to and at 30 minutes, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 hours after nasoduode nal administration of tacrolimus on 2 consecutive days, once when tacr olimus was administered along with the continuous enteral feeding and the other time when the enteral feeding was withheld 1 how prior to an d 8 hours after tacrolimus administration, to assess tacrolimus absorp tion. The whole blood tacrolimus concentrations were measured by the m icroparticulate enzyme immunoassay method. Pharmacokinetic parameters between the two time periods were compared by using a paired t-test at a significance level of a p value of 0.05 or less. RESULTS: The time to reach peak blood concentrations (p = 0.055), dose-normalized trough concentrations (p = 0.617), maximum blood concentrations (p = 0.197), and dose-normalized AUC (p = 0.755) were not significantly different between two study periods. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that s imultaneous administration of Osmolite enteral feedings with tacrolimu s did not interfere with tacrolimus absorption in transplant patients.