Dosage of phenytoin in neurocritical patients using Bayesian algorithms: a pilot study

Abstract

Phenytoin is widely used in neurocritical patients. Owing to its high pharmacokinetic variability and narrow therapeutic range, plasma level-guided dosing has become the standard. Bayesian prediction (BP) is considered the most flexible and precise pharmacokinetic strategy among several options. A retrospective study of BP dosage adjustment in 20 patients (35 plasma measures) was developed. Results indicated that 70% of phenytoin plasma levels of first plasma samples were beyond the therapeutic range. Phenytoin doses were also estimated according to BP for all patients. The measurements confirmed the ability of the strategy to lead to optimal dosage in 80% of patients, thus indicating a three-fold improvement over the basing dosage adjustment recommended in the literature.