THE RELATION BETWEEN TYPE OF RENAL-DISEASE AND RENAL DRUG CLEARANCE IN CHILDREN

It is generally assumed that the renal clearance of drugs in patients with renal impairment are affected to a similar extent regardless of the type of renal disease (intact nephron hypothesis). We have studied the effect of underlying renal disease on the pharmacokinetics of cefotaxime and desacetylcefotaxime in two groups of children (ages 7 to 16 y) with varying degrees of renal dysfunction. Patients in group 1 (n = 5) had intrinsic renal disease and those in group 2 (n = 5) had extrinsic renal disease, as identified by the primary renal lesion. After a single intravenous dose of cefotaxime timed blood and urine samples were collected for 24 h; cefotaxime and desacetylcefotaxime were measured by HPLC. There were no significant differences between the groups in age, body surface area, urine output, creatinine clearance, total body clearance, nonrenal clearance, renal clearance, and volume of distribution at steady state of cefotaxime, and renal clearance of desacetylcefotaxime. However, the renal clearance: creatinine clearance (CL(R):CL(CR)) ratios for both cefotaxime [1.34 in group 1 vs. 0.51 in group 2] and desacetylcefotaxime [1.58 in group 1 vs. 0.75 in group 2] were statistically significant between the two groups. Group 1 patients had an average CL(R):CL(CR) ratio greater than 1 for both the parent compound and the metabolite, suggesting that net tubular secretion was still intact, despite a diminished glomerular filtration rate (CL(CR) = 24 ml . min-1 . 1.73 m-2). In contrast, patients in group 2 (CL(CR) = 49) ml . min-1 . 1.73 m-2) had an average CL(R):CL(CR) ratio less than 1 for both cefotaxime and desacetylcefotaxime, suggesting that renal tubular transport mechanisms did not remain functional in these patients. Our findings suggest that the effect of renal insufficiency on the renal elimination of cefotaxime and its metabolite desacetylcefotaxime may depend on the cause of renal insufficiency.