Sam WJ, Hammer GB, Drover DR. Population pharmacokinetics of remifentanil in infants and children undergoing cardiac surgery.
BMC Anesthesiol 2009;
9:5. [PMID:
19635151 PMCID:
PMC2723094 DOI:
10.1186/1471-2253-9-5]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2008] [Accepted: 07/27/2009] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
The aim of this study was to provide a model-based analysis of the pharmacokinetics of remifentanil in infants and children undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).
Methods
We studied nine patients aged 0.5 to 4 years who received a continuous remifentanil infusion via a computer-controlled infusion pump during cardiac surgery with mildly hypothermic CPB were studied. Arterial blood samples taken prior to, during and after CPB were analyzed for remifentanil concentrations using a validated gas-chromatographic mass-spectrophotometric assay. We used population mixed-effects modeling to characterize remifentanil pharmacokinetics. The final model was evaluated by its predictive performance.
Results
The pharmacokinetics of remifentanil was described by a 1-compartment model with adjustments for CPB. Population mean parameter estimates were 1.41 L for volume of distribution (V) and 0.244 L/min for clearance. V was increased during CPB and post-CPB to 2.41 times the pre-CPB value. The median prediction error and the median of individual median absolute prediction error were 2.44% and 21.6%, respectively.
Conclusion
Remifentanil dosage adjustments are required during and after CPB due to marked changes in the V of the drug. Simulations indicate that a targeted blood concentration of 14 ng/mL is achieved and maintained in 50% of typical patients by administration of an initial dose of 18 μg remifentanil followed by an infusion of 3.7 μg/min before, during and post-CPB, supplemented with a bolus dose of 25 μg given at the start of CPB.
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