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Investigations Of Pharmacokinetic Challenges In Premature Infants, Yi Zhang

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Premature infants (gestational age less than 37 weeks) are considered a vulnerable patient population due to their immaturity at birth. Currently, off-label prescribing is common in younger pediatric populations, especially in premature neonates and infants, which is a primary group receiving intensive care. Unique pharmacokinetic (PK) challenges—such as limited blood volume and frequency of blood sample collections, rapid growth and continuous developmental changes, complexity of pediatric studies as well as scientific, practical, and ethical concerns— lead to the current lack of PK information and empirical dosing in premature neonates and infants. In this research, several approaches were investigated to overcome …