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So far we have considered the pharmacokinetics of intravenously administered drugs, either as a bolus or by infusion. If we know kel and V for a particular patient we can calculate appropriate doses or dosing rates (infusion rates) to produce the necessary therapeutic concentrations.
In the previous Chapter we considered a number of routes of drug administration. Most of the routes of administration were extravascular; for example IM, SC, and most importantly oral. With these types of drug administration the drug isn't placed in the central compartment but must be absorbed through at least one membrane. This has a considerable effect on drug pharmacokinetics and may cause a reduction in the actual amount of drug which is absorbed.
Most commonly the absorption process follows first order kinetics. Even though many oral dosage forms are solids, which must dissolve before being absorbed and absorption may occur at various parts of the GI tract, the overall absorption process can often be considered to be a single first order process. At least that's the assumption we will use for now.
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