Antimicrobial administration requires drug therapy to target the site of
infection. Traditionally, commercial oral and intravenous agents are the first route of
administration for systemic infections. The use of alternative routes of administration is
often required to optimize both pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of
antimicrobials that may not be achieved with oral or intravenous products. Optimizing
both pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties help achieve adequate
penetration of the target drug into the site of infection by maintaining antibiotic serum
concentration in a time or concentration-dependent manner. The result is the
achievement of drug concentrations above the minimum inhibitory concentration of a
targeted organism resulting in both clinical and microbiological cure. In addition,
pharmaceutically compounded antimicrobials must also be an option to target
infections that may not be achieved with commercial antibiotics. A description of the
various routes of antimicrobial administration is presented in this chapter including
current evidence, guidelines for use and new and novel administrative methods.
Keywords: Aerosol, Bone, Compounded Antimicrobials, Intramuscular,
Intraventricular, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration, Ophthalmic,
Pharmacodynamics, Pharmacokinetics, Rectal, Routes of Administration, Topical.
