A pocket calculator program for pharmacokinetic dosing of drugs exhibiting single compartment first-order elimination and zero-order or first-order absorption
✍ Scribed by Denis F. Hochstrasser; Richard J. Fleck; J.Heyward Hull; Felix A. Sarubbi
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1984
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 591 KB
- Volume
- 17
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0010-4809
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
A pocket computer program has been designed to assist clinicians in the appropriate administration of most drugs exhibiting single compartment first-order elimination and either zero-order (intravenous infusions) or first-order (intramuscular and oral) absorption The program utilizes well-established pharmacokinetic parameters to calculate an optimal drug dose and dosing interval based upon a patient's demographic characteristics and the drug half-life, volume of distribution, and absorption rate constant or infusion time. It also allows the user to estimate peak and trough drug serum concentrations. When measured serum concentrations are available during steady state, it is possible to determine individual patient drug half-life and volume of distribution for more accurate adjustments in dose and/or dosing interval. Usage of this program should enable clinicians to better select effective but safe drug dosing regimens based on individual patient needs and characteristics.
Clinicians have appropriately exercised considerable caution in administering drugs with narrow therapeutic indices. Numerous dosing guidelines, nomograms, dosing charts, and computer programs have appeared over the years to assist physicians in selecting dosing regimens which allow for clinical efficacy while minimizing the risk of toxicity (1-13). However, a significant limitation of such methods is that they cannot take advantage of the information provided by actual plasma concentrations measured in the patient. More recently, simple methods have been devised by Sawchuk and Zaske et al. Ng (25), and Loertscher (16) which use programmable calculators to individualize aminoglycoside pharmacokinetics, but are designed only for intravenous (IV) administration.
To combine the advantages of nomograms and dosing charts with the benefits 27 OfJlO-4809/84 $3.00