Theophylline monitoring

1.    An accurate and thorough patient history is essential for proper dosing of theophylline.

Take special note the following conditions:

2.    Serum theophylline level monitoring

Obtain theophylline levels at 1, 7 and 24 hours after initiating IV therapy and every 24 hours while receiving IV theophylline.

When initiating oral therapy obtain theophylline levels daily until stable.

3.    Other monitoring parameters

4.    Therapeutic range (mcg/ml)

The traditional therapeutic range of theophylline has been 10 to 20 mcg/ml, however there is recent trend to lower the target range to 5 to 15 mcg/ml. This lower target range may be especially suited to outpatients in order to avoid potential toxicity.

See also:

Introduction

Precautions

Pharmacokinetic formulas

Bibliography