Category: Pharmacokinetics
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Ending with Elimination/Excretion
We end our 4-part pharmacokinetics series discussing the all important final “E” of ADME: Elimination or Excretion. Thus far we have traversed absorption, distribution, and metabolism. But how does the drug exit the body? It can be eliminated unchanged or undergo transformation often via the liver to then be excreted. Excretion occurs via two primary…
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Meditating on Metabolism
In our 3rd installment on pharmacokinetics, we will briefly discuss the “M” which is metabolism. This is not meant to be all inclusive but will hit some major points which are clinically relevant. Metabolism occurs across many body systems and even within the bloodstream by various enzymes. The primary goal of metabolism is to make…
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Drug Distribution: Key to Understanding Effectiveness and Toxicities
In this second blog dedicated to pharmacokinetics, we will discuss drug distribution. Drug distribution is where the drug travels as it moves through the bloodstream into various tissues, organs, etc. Drugs vary widely in their degree or volume of distribution (Vd). Medications with a low volume of distribution tend to stay primarily in body water…