Pharmacokinetics of paracetamol after cardiac surgery.

C S Hopkins, S Underhill, P D Booker

Department of Anaesthesia, Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital.

Plasma concentration was measured after rectal and nasogastric administration of paracetamol 15 mg/kg to 28 febrile children aged between 9 days to 7 years who had undergone cardiac surgery. After equivalent doses, rectal administration in neonates and children on the first postoperative day was found to produce plasma concentrations below the therapeutic range with higher concentrations after nasogastric paracetamol on the second postoperative day. There was less variance in plasma paracetamol concentrations in neonates. Both plasma elimination half life and area under the plasma concentration time curve were significantly increased in neonates after suppository dosing compared with older children. There was no difference in antipyretic effect between the two routes of administration, but this was much lower than that previously reported in febrile children.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Paracetamol suppositories after cardiac surgery.

I M Mitchell, M P Jamieson, J C Pollock, and R W Logan
Arch. Dis. Child. 1991 66: 1004. [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Allegaert, K, Van der Marel, C D, Debeer, A, Pluim, M A L, Van Lingen, R A, Vanhole, C, Tibboel, D, Devlieger, H (2004). Pharmacokinetics of single dose intravenous propacetamol in neonates: effect of gestational age. Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. 89: F25-F28 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Viitanen, H., Tuominen, N., Vaaraniemi, H., Nikanne, E., Annila, P. (2003). Analgesic efficacy of rectal acetaminophen and ibuprofen alone or in combination for paediatric day-case adenoidectomy{dagger}. Br J Anaesth 91: 363-367 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Scolnik, D., Kozer, E., Jacobson, S., Diamond, S., Young, N. L. (2002). Comparison of Oral Versus Normal and High-Dose Rectal Acetaminophen in the Treatment of Febrile Children. Pediatrics 110: 553-556 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Hahn, T. W., Henneberg, S. W., Holm-Knudsen, R. J., Eriksen, K., Rasmussen, S. N., Rasmussen, M. (2000). Pharmacokinetics of rectal paracetamol after repeated dosing in children. Br J Anaesth 85: 512-519 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• van Lingen, R A, Deinum, J T, Quak, J M E, Kuizenga, A J, van Dam, J G, Anand, K J S, Tibboel, D, Okken, A (1999). Pharmacokinetics and metabolism of rectally administered paracetamol in preterm neonates. Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. 80: 59F-63 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Shah, V., Taddio, A., Ohlsson, A. (1998). Randomised controlled trial of paracetamol for heel prick pain in neonates. Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. 79: 209F-211 [Abstract] [Full Text]