Pharmacokinetics fundamentals

Ritter W. Pharmacokinetic fundamentals of vaginal treatment with clotrimazole. Am J Obstet Gynecol (1985) 152,945-7. 

J. G. Wagner, Fundamentals of Clinical Pharmacokinetics. Drug Intelligence Publishers, Hamilton, IL, 1975, pp. 24-26. 

KB Bischoff. Some fundamental considerations of the applications of pharmacokinetics to cancer chemotherapy. Cancer Chemother Rep 59 777-793, 1975. 

PHARMACOKINETICS AND TOXICOKINETICS IN DRUG SAFETY EVALUATION TABLE 18.1. Fundamental Terms Used in Pharmacokinetic Studies... 

In the last decade, a large number of radiolabeled small biomolecules have been studied for their potential as radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis and radiotherapy of various diseases. This review wiU focus on some fundamental aspects of receptor-based diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals, including radiopharmaceutical design, receptors and receptor imaging, choice of biomolecule, and modification of pharmacokinetics. 

L9. Levy, G., Dose dependent effects in pharmacokinetics. In Importance of Fundamental Principles in Drug Evaluation (D. H. Tedeschi and R. E. Tedeschi, eds.), pp. 141-172. Raven, New York, 1968. 

Clearance (Cl) and volumes of distribution (VD) are fundamental concepts in pharmacokinetics. Clearance is defined as the volume of plasma or blood cleared of the drug per unit time, and has the dimensions of volume per unit time (e.g. mL-min-1 or L-h-1). An alternative, and theoretically more useful, definition is the rate of drug elimination per unit drug concentration, and equals the product of the elimination constant and the volume of the compartment. The clearance from the central compartment is thus VVklO. Since e0=l, at t=0 equation 1 reduces to C(0)=A+B+C, which is the initial concentration in VI. Hence, Vl=Dose/(A+B-i-C). The clearance between compartments in one direction must equal the clearance in the reverse direction, i.e. Vl.K12=V2-k21 and VVkl3=V3-k31. This enables us to calculate V2 and V3. 

Editor s Note Tile following references have been selected to provide the interested reader wiLli more detail on the pharmacologic complexities of anticoagulants Tile article by Edwin W. Salzman, M.D. is a short, but excellent summary of the status of antithrombotic drugs as of early 1992. The article on heparin by Jack Hirsh, MD. and the article on warfarin by the same author proride important fundamental background information on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the most widely used anticoagulant drugs, Brandjes. D.P.M., et al. Acenocoumarol and Heparin Compared with Acenocoumarol. Alone in the Initial Treatment of Proximal-Vein Thrombosis," N. Eng. J. Med., 1485 (November 19, 1992). 

Before discussing the specific pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of each class of antineoplastic agents, several fundamental concepts and therapeutic objectives will be considered first. 

Because the British group applied extensively their statistical method to determine causation of large interindividual pharmacokinetic variations without describing its strengths and weaknesses, others have attempted to assess critically the application of multiple regression analysis for this particular purpose (31,32) While this statistical method has great potential, it requires considerable modification beyond its initial applications in this area (27-29), if that potential is to be realized (H,32). Thus far, its applications in pharmacokinetics (27-29) have been disappointing because those who have employed it neither formulated nor addressed, much less demonstrated fulfillment of, several fundamental assumptions inherent in its use ( 1, 32). 

Dhillon and Gill (2006) defined pharmacokinetics as a fundamental scientific discipline that underpins applied therapeutics and noted that pharmacokinetics provides a mathematical basis to assess the time course of drugs and their effects in the body. Four pharmacokinetic processes that determine the concentration of a drug that has been administered are ... 

It was noted in the previous section that both pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics are concerned with relationships over time. One illustration of the fundamental importance of the rates of these processes can be seen in the plasma concentration-time profile (also known as the plasma-concentration curve) for an administered drug. This was introduced in Section 4.2.1, along with several quantitative pharmacokinetic terms used to describe and quantify aspects of the plasma concentration-time profile ... 

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