Implementation of clinical practice policy on the continuous intravenous administration of amphotericin B deoxycholate.

BACKGROUND: Systemic fungal infections have significantly increased. The mainstay of treatment is amphotericin B deoxycholate. A limitation of using amphotericin B includes infusion-related reactions and nephrotoxicity. A continuous infusion of amphotericin B was found to reduce nephrotoxicity and infusion-related reactions. OBJECTIVE: To implement clinical practice policy on the continuous intravenous administration of amphotericin B in the patients hospitalized in general medical wards at Siriraj Hospital. METHOD: A one-page evidence-based clinical practice policy on continuous intravenous administration of amphotericin B was prepared and disseminated to all general medical wards in Siriraj Hospital. The information on the patients who received amphotericin B treatment between March 2004 and March 2006 was collected. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, univariate analysis and multivariate analysis as appropriate. A p-value of < 0. 05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Of 166 courses of amphotericin B treatment in 148 patients, 102 courses (61.4%) were given continuous intravenous administration of amphotericin B (CI group) and 64 courses (38.6%) were given conventional 4-to 6-hour intravenous administration (RI group). The mean age of the patients in the CI group was significantly greater than that in the RI group. The CI group had more patients with neutropenia with persistent fever whereas the RI group had more patients with HIV/AIDS and cryptococcal meningitis. The incidence of amphotericin B-related nephrotoxicity was 27.5% in the CI group compared with 39.1% in the RI group (p = 0.164). Chills were observed in 6.9% of the patients in the CI group compared with 26.6% in the RI group (p = 0. 001). Overall mortality at the end of therapy was significantly higher in the CI group. However, most of the deaths in the CI group were unrelated to fungal infections or amphotericin administration. CONCLUSION: Continuous infusion of amphotericin B was associated with a decrease in infusion-related reactions and tended to have less nephrotoxicity than those in the 4-to 6-hour infusion group.