07 May ESCMID: Basel Scientists Developing Breath Test for Antibiotic Monitoring
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Dräger
Sarah Dräger, MD
Postdoc, BRCCH Researcher
Internal Medicine and ID specialist
Division of Internal Medicine
University Hospital Basel, Switzerland
Basel
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response:In patients with severe infections and patients in the intensive care unit, therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) may be used to optimize and personalize intravenous antibiotic treatment. In these patients, “conventional antibiotic dosing”, e.g. selection of the dose only considering the renal function and, if applicable, body weight, may lead to over- or underdosing due to an altered drug metabolism. This, in turn may be associated with worse clinical outcome or toxic side effects.
TDM is used to monitor antibiotic blood plasma concentrations and provides guidance to the clinicians to adjust the antibiotic dosing according to the TDM results. But the collection of blood is an invasive, time- and resource-consuming sample collection technique and leads to discomfort to the patients. Additionally, turnaround time may be long (3h to 8h), and analyses may be offered only twice or three time a week. This may be too late to guide antibiotic dosing timely in patients with a very dynamic drug metabolism. Therefore, alternatives are required to overcome the limitations of current TDM.
By using exhaled breath, we aim to develop an innovative therapeutic drug monitoring technique, which is non-invasive, easy to collect, not associated with discomfort to the patient, and which may allow to decrease the turnaround time, especially when combined with real-time analyses.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Response: We detected antibiotic-specific metabolites in exhaled breath in patients treated with antibiotics in four out of five antibiotics investigated. These are very promising results, that we aim to confirm in a larger cohort of patients.
MedicalResearch.com: How difficult is the technology to implement?
Response: The mass spectrometric breath analysis platform is located in the laboratory of Prof. Pablo Sinues, our collaborator at the University Children’s Hospital Basel. The breath test is convenient, takes around 10 min and provides a real-time read-out of a comprehensive panel of endogenous and exogenous metabolites. For the implementation of this technology, reliable plasma/breath ratios have to be established. As the breath test is already used to monitor other drugs requiring therapeutic drug monitoring , such as antiseizure drugs, we are convinced, that we may be able to extend this concept to various antibiotics.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a results of this study?
Response: The next steps include their comparison with blood plasma concentrations to establish reliable plasma/breath ratios, and to investigate their ability to predict favourable outcomes or toxic adverse events.
MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add? Any disclosures?
Response: Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of exhaled breath is a non-invasive, innovative technique, which has the potential to personalize antibiotic treatment, to reduce toxicity, and to improve patient care and clinical outcome.
No disclosures
Citation:
ESCMID Global Congress (formerly ECCMID)
Barcelona, Spain (27-30 April) will hear.
The information on MedicalResearch.com is provided for educational purposes only, and is in no way intended to diagnose, cure, or treat any medical or other condition.
Some links may be sponsored. Products are not endorsed.
Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health and ask your doctor any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. In addition to all other limitations and disclaimers in this agreement, service provider and its third party providers disclaim any liability or loss in connection with the content provided on this website.
Last Updated on May 7, 2024 by Marie Benz MD FAAD