Penetration of ceftazidime into heart valves and subcutaneous and muscle tissue of patients undergoing open-heart surgery.

Patients undergoing open-heart surgery were given an intravenous bolus injection of 2 g of ceftazidime as a single dose over a period of 5 min. Within 12 h, ceftazidime concentrations in serum declined from 55.8 to 3.9 mg/liter. Subcutaneous tissue concentrations of the drug decreased from 21.0 to 2.7 micrograms/g, and muscle concentrations decreased from 34.5 to 2.5 micrograms/g. Ceftazidime concentrations in cardiac valvular tissue were even higher than those in muscle or fat, declining from 37.4 to 6.3 micrograms/g within 10 h.