At 01:18 PM 01/09/00 +0000, Steve Angel wrote:
>>Yes, Ian. I totally agree that 4 hours or later is the time for
>>assessment of paracetamol levels, but if there's none there at three
>>hours there certainly isn't going to be any there at four hours! Thus
>>the advice given was inappropriate.
>I think I'm missing something here - how does that add up? If the levels
>are undetectable at three hours, and this is a drug wherein levels are
>optimally measured at four hours or more, doesn't it then follow that the
>levels may rise, possibly drastically, in that intervening hour?
Dr. Steven Angel, MD, General Pathologist
Steve:
Not really. A four wait is recommended because acetaminophen takes about
four hours to peak. Some literature suggests that the peak can be earlier.
So if there is no drug detected at three hours the likely hood of any drug
being detected at four hours is slim.
bhushan
______________________________________________________________
Bhushan M. Kapur, D.Phil, C.Chem, FRSC, FACB, FCACB
[log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
Consultant in Toxicology
Assistant Professor of Clinical Biochemistry
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology
Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
&
Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology
The Hospital for Sick Children
Toronto, ON M5G 1X8
homepage: http://www.clinitox.com
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