Chest physicians' and microbiologists' awareness and demand for drug monitoring in the treatment of TB.

There is a role for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) to achieve the optimum therapeutic concentration of anti-tuberculous drugs. This work aimed to determine the current awareness of TDM in TB control among chest physicians and to estimate the demand for this service. Responses from a sample of chest physicians in the West Midlands revealed that 60% were aware of TDM and 33% had used it. Responses were received from half of a UK group of microbiologists who reported a median of nine requests in the past year. It appeared that more was known about services for rifampicin and streptomycin than other first-line drugs. There appears to be a need for both increased awareness among potential service users and for coordination of assay services.