ABSTRACT
The authors studied the pharmacokinetic behaviour of a new benzodiazepine, midazolam, after a single oral administration in a group of five patients of both sexes, suffering from compensated alcoholic cirrhosis. In this clinical situation both absorption and metabolism rates of the compound were similar to those observed in healthy subjects. The only notable effect, occurring in one severely affected cirrhotic, consisting of prolonged pharmacological activity of the drug.
Subject(s)
Benzodiazepines/metabolism , Liver Cirrhosis/metabolism , Aged , Biotransformation , Female , Half-Life , Humans , Kinetics , Liver Function Tests , Male , Midazolam , Middle AgedABSTRACT
The article discusses how and why drug responses are altered in elderly patients. It describes how the mutation of body composition and decay of physiological functions in the aged alters the pharmacokinetic parameters and consequently the drug responses. It also provides guidelines on which to base estimates of an accurate drug schedule.
Subject(s)
Aged , Pharmaceutical Preparations/metabolism , Absorption , Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , Child , Child, Preschool , Humans , Infant , Kinetics , Pharmaceutical Preparations/administration & dosage , Tissue DistributionABSTRACT
A study has been made on the modifications that appear after acute dosage of pirenzepine in a series of eight healthy subjects of both sexes who had shown, by radioisotopic evaluation, a physiological pattern of gastric kinetics. The acute dosage of the drug was continued for three days at therapeutic doses and, a few hours after the last administration, the same study was repeated. As a test meal, a whole fried egg containing 99mTc-labelled serum albumin was used. The kinetics of the gastric content was scanned by a gamma-camera. The difference in gastric kinetics between the baseline situation and that after administration of the drug is reported and discussed.
Subject(s)
Benzodiazepinones/metabolism , Gastric Mucosa/metabolism , Parasympatholytics/metabolism , Adult , Female , Gastric Emptying/drug effects , Half-Life , Humans , Kinetics , Male , PirenzepineABSTRACT
From the various investigations of gastric emptying described in the literature, radionuclide labelling of meals appears to provide the most suitable technique. The emptying patterns of different 99mTc-DTPA carriers were studied in healthy volunteers, compared with patterns found after ingestion of a fried egg incorporating 99mTc-serum albumin. The results are described and discussed. They seen to suggest that there are different modalities of gastric emptying when different meals and markers are used.
Subject(s)
Gastric Emptying , Stomach/diagnostic imaging , Adult , Barium Sulfate , Female , Humans , Kinetics , Male , Pentetic Acid , Radionuclide Imaging , Serum Albumin , Technetium , Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin , Technetium Tc 99m PentetateABSTRACT
Continuing their studies of gastric emptying modifications induced by nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs, the authors investigated the effects of 6-chloro-a-methylcarbazole-2-acetic acid (carprofen, Imadyl) versus those of acteylsalicylic acid (ASA) in an open crossover study of 10 healthy volunteers with normal gastric motility. The subjects received a standard meal labeled with 99Tc DTPA and were monitored for gastric emptying over time by scintiscanning with a gamma ray camera wired to a computer. Each subject was examined in basal conditions and after dosing with carprofen and ASA in random sequence with a 10-day washout period between tests. With the ASA treatment, all subjects showed considerable prolongation of gastric transit compared to pretreatment values, both in terms of first discharge of labeled bolus into the duodenum and of percent gastric radioactivity dissipated at 20 min. With carprofen, both parameters were influenced in the same direction to a significantly lower degree, to the point where the difference from pretreatment values was statistically improbable.
