Vancomycin Revisited: A Reappraisal of Clinical Use

Vancomycin has been used for decades to treat serious systemic gram positive infections. Extensive use over time has demonstrated vancomycin is not nephrotoxic even when used in high dosage, i.e., twice the usual dose. Since vancomycin is not nephrotoxic, there is no rationale for dosing vancomycin based on serum vancomycin levels. Since vancomycin is eliminated by GFR, vancomycin dosing should be based on creatinine clearance. Vancomycin obeys “concentration dependent” kinetics and higher than usual doses may be useful in some infections (eg, osteomyelitis). Widespread vancomycin use has resulted in increased VRE prevalence worldwide. Among staphylococci, vancomycin induced cell wall thickening results in “permeability mediated” resistance to vancomycin, as well as other anti-staphylococcal antibiotics. “Permeability mediated” resistance accounts for the common clinical observation that MRSA infections treated with vancomycin often resolve slowly or not at all. Other effective MRSA antibiotics are available (eg, linezolid, daptomycin, minocycline, or tigecycline) and are more reliably effective, do not increase staphylococcal resistance or increase VRE prevalence.