Treatment of herpes virus infections in immunocompromised patients with acyclovir by continuous intravenous infusion.

Sixteen immunocompromised patients with herpes virus infections were treated for three to five days with continuously administered intravenous acyclovir. Patients received initial acyclovir infusions over 5 minutes in dosages ranging from 1.5 to 5.0 mg/kg followed by continuously infused acyclovir at 7.2, 14.4, 21.6, 28.8, 36.0, or 43.2 mg/kg per day. The mean serum plateau levels of acyclovir determined by radioimmunoassay ranged from 4.1 microM for the 7.2 mg/kg per day dosage to 36.6 microM for the 43.2 mg/kg per day dose. A mean of 75 percent of acyclovir administered was recovered in the urine of patients treated. Eleven of 13 patients with varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infections had no new vesicle formation after three days of acyclovir treatment and all patients ceased to have new vesicles after five days of therapy. For the nine patients from whom complete viral cultures were available, six ceased to shed virus at three days, and viral shedding ceased by five days in all patients treated with acyclovir. No clinical or laboratory adverse reactions were associated with acyclovir therapy. These data suggest that acyclovir given by continuous intravenous infusion may be useful in the treatment of herpes virus infections in immunocompromised patients.