Pharmacokinetic concepts and applications affecting the clinical laboratory: II. Applications for antibiotic and anticoagulant drugs.

This article reviews pharmacokinetic principles used in conjunction with laboratory data to optimize dosage regimens of two classes of particular interest to the clinical laboratory: antibiotic and anticoagulant agents. For antibiotics, information is presented on the growing application of pharmacokinetic concepts and laboratory participation in relating plasma drug level assays, tests of the minimum inhibitory concentration, and standardization of sensitivity tests to the design of improved dosage regimens. For anticoagulants, emphasis is placed on relating patient variability in pharmacokinetic properties to increasing laboratory involvement in monitoring therapeutic response.