High-pressure liquid chromatography looks at drugs for septic shock

High-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used by researchers at Universite Libre de Bruxelles and Universite catholique de Louvain to look at the administration of drugs used to treat sepsis and septic shock.

A total of four Belgian intensive care units collaborated in the experiment, which assessed the performance of a range of different drugs used to treat sepsis.

After administration, serum concentrations were detected using HPLC periodically up to eight hours later.

"The aim of our study was to determine whether the first dose of piperacillin-tazobactam, ceftazidime, cefepime, and meropenem would result in adequate serum drug concentrations in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock," the researchers write.

However, they found that only meropenem resulted in acceptable serum concentrations after the first dosage.

They suggest that altered pharmacokinetics in the patients may be responsible for the failure to achieve an acceptable serum concentration when using a standard dosage, suggesting that higher quantities may be needed in order to combat less susceptible pathogens during early septic shock and sepsis.