Medullary plasma pharmacokinetics of vancomycin after intravenous and intraosseous perfusion of the proximal phalanx in horses.

The research is about a study on the effectiveness of administering the antibiotic vancomycin intravenously (IV) and intraosseously (IO) in horses. The study suggests that both approaches effectively deliver high concentrations of the antibiotic to the targeted area, with no significant difference between the two methods.

Research Methodology

• The researchers used twelve horses for the experiment. The horses were divided into two groups of six. The purpose of the study was to investigate how effectively the antibiotic was delivered through either the IV or IO route.
• For each horse, one front limb was randomly selected for the antibiotic infusion (300 mg of vancomycin hydrochloride in 60 mL of 0.9% NaCl), with the opposite limb acting as a control and infused with saline solution (60 mL of 0.9% NaCl).
• To facilitate the collection of samples, a hole was drilled in the lateral cortex of the proximal phalanx (P1). The blood samples from the medullary sinusoids were then collected at various intervals for 90 minutes after beginning the antibiotic infusion.
• The samples were centrifuged and subsequently analyzed to determine the concentration of vancomycin in the plasma. These concentration measures were then used to compare the effectiveness of the two delivery methods.

Results and Conclusion

• No side effects attributed to the vancomycin, such as lameness or swelling, were observed during the experiment.
• Both methods, IV and IO perfusions, resulted in high vancomycin concentrations within the sinusoidal plasma of P1. Notably, these concentrations remained above the minimum inhibitory concentration for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) throughout the 90-minute experiment.
• The study found no significant differences between the plasma pharmacokinetics variables of the vancomycin delivered via either the IV or IO method. Hence, both procedures are deemed equally effective.
• The study concludes that either method can be selected for Regional Limb Perfusion (RLP) with vancomycin, as both managed to deliver high enough concentrations of the antibiotic to be effective against bacteria like MRSA.