Talha Laique, Shahid Hamid, Ijaz Amin, Safeena Sidiq, Hafiz Muhammad Salman, Kashif Butt.
Therapeutic drug monitoring of isoniazid with serum hemoglobin levelsiin pulmonary tuberculosis patients.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;13(4):1175-7.

Background: Pulmonary tuberculosis is the most common infection among mycobacterial diseases in humans. Low plasma levels of first line anti-tuberculous drugs are related to drug resistance and therapeutic failure. Aim: To determine the serum levels of isoniazid and hemoglobin in newly diagnosed pulmonary TB patients after 8 weeks of treatment . Methodology: Newly diagnosed (30) pulmonary tuberculosis patients were enrolled to conduct the present study at Gulab Devi Hospital, Lahore Pakistan. Blood samples were drawn at 02 hrs and 06 hrs post dose intervals for anti-tuberculous drugs. Written and informed consent was taken from patients. High performance liquid chromatography method using UV detection was carried out for determining plasma isoniazid levels after 8 weeks of anti -tuberculous drugs treatment. Results: Plasma levels of isoniazid at C 2h were <1.5 µg/ ml in 97.4% patients whereas 100% subjects had plasma levels of isoniazid at C 6h <1.5 µg/ml among Pakistani population during our research study. Conclusion: We concluded that the therapeutic drug monitoring of isoniazid is imperative to rule out the cause of MDR-TB due to its low serum levels in Pakistani patients.

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