Therapeutic drug monitoring of voriconazole helps to decrease the percentage of patients with off-target trough serum levels

Abstract

We monitored trough voriconazole serum concentrations from 107 patients (n = 258 samples) at 6 hospitals in Madrid. Most of the patients were male (67%) and had the following underlying conditions: hematological cancer (42%), solid organ transplantation (15%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (14%), human immunodeficiency virus infection (8.4%), solid cancer (5.6%), and other (29%). The indication for voriconazole administration was aspergillosis treatment (74.6%) and prophylaxis (14%). The main reasons for voriconazole trough drug monitoring were initiation of treatment/prophylaxis (33%), patient monitoring (47%), and suspected toxicity (3.5%). Levels (μg/ml) were subtherapeutic (>1; 18.2%), on-target (1-5.5; 71.3%), and high (>5.5; 10.5%). The samples percentage with on-target levels was significantly lower for the first sample than for subsequent samples (62.6% vs. 77.5%). "Subsequent samples," "admission in nonpediatric wards," "voriconazole used for treatment of invasive aspergillosis," and "use of proton pump inhibitors" were predictors of voriconazole therapeutic levels (≥1 μg/ml).