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Continuing Education in Anaesthesia Critical Care and Pain | Volume 4 Number 3 | 2004
Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain | Volume 4 Number 3 2004 © The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia 2004

Pharmacokinetics of drug infusions

SA Hill, MA PhD FRCA, Consultant Anaesthetist
Shackleton Department of Anaesthesia, Southampton General Hospital, Tremona Road, Southampton, SO16 6YD
Tel: 02380 796135, Fax: 02380 794348, E-mail: sahneuro{at}aol.com

In clinical practice, drugs are given by continuous infusion to maintain a predictable pharmacodynamic action. In anaesthesia, the most common route is by continuous i.v. infusion, but the extradural, subarachnoid and subcutaneous routes are also regularly used. The effective use of drug infusions requires an understanding of both the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics of the drug used. Pharmacokinetics describe how the plasma concentration of a drug changes over time, with the assumption that plasma will equilibrate with an effect compartment to produce pharmacodynamic activity. This article will describe, rather than derive equations to explain, the pharmacokinetics of i.v. infusions and a basic understanding of simple models of pharmacokinetics and the relationships between parameters is assumed.


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