• Seung Heon Lee, Kyung-Ah Seo, Young Min Lee, Hyun-Kyung Lee, Je Hyeong Kim, Chol Shin, Jong-Ryul Ghim, Jae-Gook Shin, and Dong Hyun Kim.
• Division of Pulmonary, Sleep, and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Ansan, Korea.
• Yonsei Med. J. 2015 Jul 1; 56 (4): 961967961-7.

PurposeLow serum concentrations of drugs used to treat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) have occasionally been associated with treatment failure. We determined the frequencies of low serum concentrations of anti-MDR-TB drugs, and assessed the effects of these concentrations on 2-month sputum conversion.Materials And MethodsThe serum levels of moxifloxacin (MF), prothionamide (PTH), and cycloserine (CS) were determined for 89 serum samples by high-pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.ResultsLow serum concentrations of MF, PTH, and CS below the minimal levels of the normal ranges were 83.3% (20/24), 59.2% (29/49), and 71.2% (47/66), respectively. There were no significant differences between the 2-month sputum conversion group (n=25) and the 2-month sputum non-conversion group (n=4) in median drug concentrations (μg/mL) of MF (1.46 vs. 1.60), PTH (0.91 vs. 0.70), and CS (14.90 vs. 14.90). However, a poor compliance rate was significantly greater in the 2-month sputum non-conversion group (75.0%, 3/4) than in the 2-month sputum conversion group (0%, 0/25) (p=0.001).ConclusionThe frequency of low serum concentrations of anti-MDR-TB drugs was substantial and might not affect the 2-month sputum conversion rate. Larger prospective studies with timely sampling are needed to investigate the role of therapeutic drug monitoring in MDR-TB.

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