Pharmacokinetics of Piperacillin/Tazobactam in Pediatric Obesity

Project Summary:

This project is exploratory in nature and aims to establish the baseline PK properties of piperacillin/tazobactam in non-critically ill obese pediatric patients. The changes in the PK properties of drugs due to physiologic alterations in critically ill patients are well documented. However, once baseline PK properties are established, further studies can be conducted to explore alterations in piperacillin/tazobactam PK in critically ill obese pediatric patients.

The aim of these projects would be to explore the need for alterations in the dosing of piperacillin/tazobactam in obese patients across a variety of medical conditions in order to achieve the targeted % fT>MIC and thereby optimize clinical outcomes in this growing segment of the pediatric population of Wisconsin. Furthermore, this can be expanded to other commonly used antibiotics, thereby allowing for optimization of dosing of a variety of widely used antibiotics in the pediatric population, potentially reducing the development of antibiotic resistance and improving clinical outcomes in previously underdosed obese children.