Study of cyclosporine level at 2 hours after administration in preoperative kidney transplant recipients for prediction of postoperative optimal cyclosporine dose

Abstract

Objective: Absorption profiling of cyclosporine is a current concept of drug monitoring. A single blood concentration measurement 2 hours after cyclosporine administration (C2) has been shown to be a good predictor of drug exposure and clinical outcome. The recommendation states that achieving the recommended target level of 1700 +/- 340 ng/ml within 3-5 days after renal transplantation is associated with a lower rate of acute rejection and nephrotoxicity. The high variation of pharmacokinetic profile and short limited time during early post-transplantation period make it hard to adjust the cyclosporine dose that can reach that target level on time. The present study was designed to be a method to predict the optimal pre-transplant CsA dose.

Material and method: Eleven living-related kidney transplant recipients were recruited to receive cyclosporine and were monitored for C2 concentration during the 2 weeks before operation by the designed method. The pre-transplant empirical dose of 3.5 mg/kg/dose every 12 hours were assigned to all patients. The first predicted dose was estimated by using C2 concentration of 1,700 ng/mL. The first predicted dose was prescribed to the patients. The second predicted dose was estimated by using C2 concentration of the first predicted dose. All patients received the average of the first and the second predicted doses of cyclosporine within 12-24 hrs before transplantation and until the 3rd day after transplantation.

Results: Nine out of 11 patients (81.81%) reached the target C2 level on the 3rd day after transplantation without any serious side effect and complications. The most common side effect was nausea and a flushing sensation that usually abated with a later dose after transplantation.

Conclusion: The early postoperative optimal cyclosporine dose can be effectively predicted by pre-transplant C2 measurement as conducted in the present study.