Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Feb 1987
ReviewThe role of pharmacokinetics in anaesthesia: application to intravenous infusions.
Pharmacokinetic concepts describe the relationship between drug dose and resulting plasma concentration. A drug's pharmacokinetic profile can be described by distribution and elimination half-lives, initial volume of distribution, steady-state distribution volume, and metabolic and distributional clearance. ⋯ The most rapid method of achieving a constant plasma concentration involves using a variable rate of drug infusion that adjusts for the metabolic clearance and distribution of the drug. Computer-driven infusion pumps can be used to rapidly achieve, then maintain, constant plasma concentrations of a drug.