Therapeutic drug monitoring of tacrolimus after kidney transplantation: trough concentration or area under curve‐based monitoring?

Measurement of pre‐dose tacrolimus concentrations, also referred to as trough concentrations or C0 (in this paper the term C0 will be used), is the most frequently used parameter for therapeutic drug monitoring in patients after solid organ transplantation. C0 is relatively easy to obtain, and can be combined with other lab tests. C0 monitoring is convenient for patient and hospital staff. Adjusting the dose based on C0 assumes that the C0 has a good correlation with the overall exposure to the drug, as reflected in the area under concentration—time curve (AUC).