Therapeutic monitoring of tacrolimus in pediatric and adult transplanted patients

Tacrolimus, a new immunosuppressant drug, is currently used in the prevention and treatment of graft rejection in organ transplant recipients. Like cyclosporin, tacrolimus inhibits interkeukin-2 synthesis, but it is 50-100 times more potent than cyclosporin 1. The clinical use of tacrolimus is associated with several side effects, such as hypertension, hyperglycemia, nephrotoxicity and neurotoxicity 2,3. Furthermore, because of the narrow therapeutic range and extensive intraand interpatient pharmacokinetic variability, it is necesary to carefully monitor blood concentrations of this drug in transplant patients to optimize tacrolimus therapy 4. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the results obtained during the therapeutic monitoring of tacrolimus in pediatric and adult patients undergoing liver and kidney transplant, respectively.