This is a prospective observational study performed on critically ill patients. Inclusion criteria are: severe sepsis on admission requiring broad-spectrum antibiotics. Both medical and surgical patients will be included. Any type of infections will be included (pulmonary, abdominal, urinary tract, etc.) Antibiotics regimen includes: broad spectrum anti-bacterial antibiotics plus caspofungin (70 mg i.v. on the first day day, and 50 mg i.v. on the consecutive days, once daily.~Blood samples (3 mL) will be collected 2, 4, 8,12 and 24 hours after each dose of caspofungin for 3 consecutive days. The standard arterial canula will be used to obtain samples.~30 minutes after each sample collection, blood will be centrifuged for 10 minutes at 3,000 rpms. Subsequently, supernatant will be collected and frozen.~Serum caspofungin concentration will be measured with high performance liquid chromatography.~Each patient's hemodynamics parameters will be recorded with the use of transpulmonary thermodilution technique (PICCO). Other therapies i.e.: ventilatory support, sedation, an antifungal agent will be given as required.
The objective of this study is to describe the pharmacokinetics of standard doses of caspofungin in critically ill patients.