Therapeutic drug monitoring in antituberculosis chemotherapy: clinical perspectives

Background: Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) represents an area where mult idisciplinary service is rendered for optimization of clinical care, throug h enabling maximum drug therapeutic efficacy and minimum drug toxicity. Thi s is a recently developed field for antituberculosis chemotherapy. The othe r goals of TDM principally include study and management of pharmacokinetic drug-drug and drug-disease interactions as well as the evaluation of new fi xed-dose combinations (FDC) developed for treatment of tuberculosis. Conclu sion: In the years to come, with the advancement in knowledge. technology a nd expertise, it is hoped that TDM, as a novel paradigm of care in tubercul osis, may gain expanding indications and reach a new horizon. (C) 2001 Else vier Science B.V. All rights reserved.