Calculating The Loading Dose
Four variables are used to calculate the loading dose:
-
Cp = desired peak concentration of drug Vd = volume of distribution of drug in body F = bioavailability S = salt fraction
The required loading dose may then be calculated as
For an intravenously administered drug, the bioavailability F will equal 1, since the drug is directly introduced to the bloodstream. If the patient requires an oral dose, bioavailability will be less than 1 (depending upon absorption, first pass metabolism etc.), requiring a larger loading dose.
Read more about this topic: Loading Dose
Famous quotes containing the words calculating the, calculating, loading and/or dose:
“[The] elderly and timid single gentleman in Paris ... never drove down the Champs Elysees without expecting an accident, and commonly witnessing one; or found himself in the neighborhood of an official without calculating the chances of a bomb. So long as the rates of progress held good, these bombs would double in force and number every ten years.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“Sin in this country has been always said to be rather calculating than impulsive.”
—Frank Moore Colby (1865–1925)
“Nitrates and phosphates for ammunition. The seeds of war. They’re loading a full cargo of death. And when that ship takes it home, the world will die a little more.”
—Earl Felton, and Richard Fleischer. Captain Nemo (James Mason)
“Whipping and abuse are like laudanum: you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline.”
—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896)