Use of clindamycin in patients with liver disease.

Hepatotoxicity has been noted by several investigators during parenteral use of clindamycin, and some have reported that drug half-life is prolonged in the presence of liver disease. We administered 300 mg of clindamycin intravenously at 12-h intervals for 2 days to patients with acute and chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and controls to determine whether clindamycin will exacerbate preexisting hepatic dysfunction or whether drug excretion will be delayed in patients with liver disease as compared with controls. Exacerbation of hepatotoxicity was not found in this study. There was a small, but significant, delay in drug elimination between cirrhotics and controls, even after the first dose of clindamycin (P < 0.05); however, half-lives in all categories were in the range usually considered normal. We conclude that clindamycin can be used in liver disease in some circumstances, if proper precautions are exercised.