Cephacetrile--application of pharmacokinetic data to dosage determination.

This pharmacokinetic investigation was based on the determination of serum and urinary levles of cephacetrile in 50 subjects given single intramuscular or intravenous doses of 0.5 or 1 gm of the antibiotic; 30 normal subjects, 10 patients with renal insufficiency, and 10 patients with chronic nephritis undergoing maintenance haemodialysis were included in this study. In normal subjects, mean serum half-life was 1.09 hours (Ke = 0.6337) after intramuscular injection of 0.5 gm cephacetrile, 1.31 hours (Ke = 0.5276) after intramuscular injection of 1 gm, and 0.89 hours (Ke = 0.7806) after intravenous injection of 1 gm. Absorption half-life was 0.45 hours after intramuscular injection of 1 gm cephacetrile. The urinary elimination of cephacetrile over the first 6 hours after injection was on the average 72.7% of the administered dose. After intravenous injection of 1 gm of the antibiotic, the plasma clearance of cephacetrile was 407 ml/min., and its renal clearance 313 ml/min. A linear correlation was found between the values of overall elimination rate constant (Ke) and creatinine clearance in the subjects under investigation (Ke = 0.0080 + 0.0061 ClCr). The established pharmacokinetic characteristics were used to calculate the maintenance and loading doses as well as the intervals between injections adjusted to creatinine clearance. These data constitute true dosage schemes adapted to the particular case of each patient according to his kidney function.