DOSE ADJUSTMENT IN RENAL DISEASE RENAL IMPAIRMENT

1. Dr. Mallionath V P
Department of Pharmacy parctice

2.  The kidney is an important organ in
 regulating body fluids
 electrolyte balance
 removal of metabolic waste, and
 Drug excretion from the body
 Impairment or degeneration of kidney function
affects the pharmacokinetics of drugs.
 Some of the more common causes of kidney
failure include
 Disease
 Injury
 Drug intoxication

3. Pyelonephritis Inflammation and deterioration of the
pyelonephrons due to infection, antigens, or other
idiopathic causes.
Hypertension Chronic overloading of the kidney with fluid and
electrolytes may lead to kidney insufficiency
Diabetes mellitus The disturbances of sugar metabolism and acid- base
balance may lead to or predispose a patient to
degenerative renal disease.
Nephrotoxic
drugs/metals
Certain drugs taken chronically may cause
irreversible kidney damage – eg, the
aminoglycosides,phenoacetin, and heavy metals,
such as mercury and lead.
Hypovolemia Any condition that causes a reduction in renal blood
flow will eventually lead to renal ischemia and
damage.
Neophroallergens Certain compounds may produce an immune type
of sensitivity reaction with nephritic syndrome-eg,
quartan malaria nephrotoxic serum.

4.  Acute diseases or trauma to the kidney can
cause uremia, in which glomerular filtration is
impaired or reduced, leading to accumulation
of excessive fluid and blood nitrogenous
products in the body.

5.  Uremic patients may exhibit pharmacokinetic
changes in
• bioavailability,
• volume of distribution
• clearance.
 The oral bioavailability of a drug in severe uremia
may be decreased as a result of disease-related
changes in
• gastrointestinal motility and pH that are
caused by nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
 Mesenteric blood flow may also be altered.

6.  The apparent volume of distribution
depends largely on
• drug–protein binding in plasma or tissues
• total body water.
 Renal impairment may alter the distribution
of the drug as a result of
• changes in fluid balance,
• drug–protein binding, or
• other factors that may cause changes in
the apparent volume of distribution

7.  The plasma protein binding of weak acidic drugs in
uremic patients is decreased, whereas the protein
binding of weak basic drugs is less affected.
 A decrease in drug–protein binding results in a
larger fraction of free drug and an increase in the
volume of distribution.
 However, the net elimination half-life is generally
increased as a result of the dominant effect of
reduced glomerular filtration.
 Total body clearance of drugs in uremic patients is
also reduced by either a decrease in the
• glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and possibly
• active tubular secretion or
• reduced hepatic clearance

8.  In clinical practice, estimation of the
appropriate drug dosage regimen in patients
with impaired renal function is based on an
estimate of the remaining renal function of the
patient and a prediction of the total body
clearance.

9.  Generally, drugs in patients with uremia or
kidney impairment have prolonged
elimination half-lives and a change in the
apparent volume of distribution.
 Two general pharmacokinetic approaches for
dose adjustment include
• methods based on drug clearance
• methods based on the elimination half-life.

10. • Methods based on drug clearance try to
maintain the desired Cav after multiple oral
doses or multiple IV bolus injections as total
body clearance, ClT, changes. The calculation
for Cav is

11. • For patients with uremic condition or renal
impairment, total body clearance will change to
a new value, ClTu.
• Therefore, to maintain the same desired Cav , the
dose must be changed to a uremic dose, D0u, or
the dosage interval must be changed to t u, as
shown in the following equation:

12. • If the dosing interval is kept constant :

13. • For IV infusions the same desired Css is
maintained both for patients with normal renal
function and for patients with renal
impairment. Therefore, the rate of infusion, R,
must be changed to a new value, Ru, for the
uremic patient, as described by the equation

14. • The overall elimination rate constant for many
drugs is reduced in the uremic patient.
• A dosage regimen may be designed for the uremic
patient either by reducing the normal dose of the
drug and keeping the frequency of dosing (dosage
interval) constant or by decreasing the frequency
of dosing (prolonging the dosage interval) and
keeping the dose constant.
• Doses of drugs with a narrow therapeutic range
should be reduced— particularly if the drug has
accumulated in the patient prior to deterioration
of kidney function.

15. • The usual approach to estimating a multiple-
dosage regimen in the normal patient is to
maintain a desired av C ,.
• Assuming the VD is the same in both normal
and uremic patients and t is constant,

16. • When the elimination rate constant for a drug in
the uremic patient cannot be determined
directly, indirect methods are available to
calculate the predicted elimination rate
constant based on the renal function of the
patient.
• The assumptions on how these dosage regimens
are calculated include the following:

17. • The renal elimination rate constant (kR)
decreases proportionately as renal function
decreases.
• The nonrenal routes of elimination (primarily,
the rate constant for metabolism) remain
unchanged.
• Changes in the renal clearance of the drug are
reflected by changes in the creatinine clearance.

18. • Several criteria are necessary to use a drug as a marker
to measure GFR:
1. The drug must be freely filtered at the glomerulus.
2. The drug must neither be reabsorbed nor actively
secreted by the renal tubules.
3. The drug should not be metabolized.
4. The drug should not bind significantly to plasma
proteins.
5. The drug should neither have an effect on the filtration
rate nor alter renal function.
6. The drug should be nontoxic.
7. The drug may be infused in a sufficient dose to permit
simple and accurate quantitation in plasma and in
urine.

19. • The clearance of creatinine is used most extensively
as a measurement of GFR.
• Creatinine is an endogenous substance formed from
creatine phosphate during muscle metabolism.
• Creatinine production varies with age, weight, and
gender of the individual.
• In humans, creatinine is filtered mainly at the
glomerulus, with no tubular reabsorption.
However, a small amount of creatinine may be
actively secreted by the renal tubules, and the
values of GFR obtained by the creatinine clearance
tend to be higher than GFR measured by inulin
clearance.

20. • Inulin, a fructose polysaccharide, fulfills most of the
criteria listed above and is therefore used as a
standard reference for the measurement of GFR.
• In practice, however, the use of inulin involves a
time-consuming procedure in which inulin is
given by intravenous infusion until a constant
steady-state plasma level is obtained.
• Clearance of inulin may then be measured by the
rate of infusion divided by the steady-state plasma
inulin concentration. Although this procedure
gives an accurate value for GFR, inulin clearance is
not used frequently in clinical practice.

21. • Measurement of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) is a
commonly used clinical diagnostic laboratory
test for renal disease.
• Urea is the end product of protein catabolism
and is excreted through the kidney.
• Normal BUN levels range from 10 to 20 mg/dL.

22. • The renal clearance of urea is by glomerular
filtration and partial reabsorption in the renal
tubules.
• Therefore, the renal clearance of urea is less
than creatinine or inulin clearance and does not
give a quantitative measure of kidney function.