[From the parenchyma to the mucosa biopsy: significance and importance of local assays of antibiotics. A critical study].

The authors discussed the relevance of antibiotic concentrations as measured in tissues and fluids of the respiratory tract. They analysed theoretical factors which influence tissue distribution of antibiotics as well as the results of studies carried out in animal and in human tissues. Various factors may interfere with the results of antibiotic assays: but the data published by various groups were usually convergent: this confirms the significance of "tissue pharmacokinetics". New protocols based on more refined and reliable techniques were proposed recently, which underlines the attention payed to these studies.