Epidemiology of drug exposure and adverse drug reactions in two swiss departments of internal medicine.

Aims: To explore drug exposure, frequency of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), types of ADRs, predisposing risk factors and ADR-related excess hospital stay in medical inpatients.

Methods: Structured data regarding patient characteristics, 'events' (symptoms, laboratory results), diagnoses (ICD10) and drug therapy were collected using a computer-supported data entry system and an interface for data retrieval from electronic patient records. ADR data were collected by 'event monitoring' to minimize possible bias by the drug monitor.

In vivo verification of in vitro model of antibiotic treatment of device-related infection.

Device-related infections are difficult to treat with antibiotics alone. Standard susceptibility tests do not correlate with treatment success. Therefore, the utility of a pharmacokinetic in vitro model has been evaluated in comparison with the tissue-cage infection model in guinea pigs.

Amikacin, ceftazidime, and flucloxacillin against suspended and adherent Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus epidermidis in an in vitro model of infection.

Bacterial inocula were exposed as suspended cultures or as adherent biofilms on glass beads in a novel in vitro model of infection to oscillating drug concentrations mimicking human serum kinetics during clinical treatment. Amikacin was given once or thrice daily alone or in combination with ceftazidime or flucloxacillin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Staphylococcus epidermidis. Killing of adherent bacteria was significantly reduced during single-drug treatment compared with suspended bacteria (P less than .