PHARMACOKINETICS OF PHENOPERIDINE IN ANAESTHETIZED PATIENTS UNDERGOING GENERAL SURGERY

The pharmacokinetics of phenoperidine have been studied in fiveanaesthetized patients receiving a 2-mg bolus dose i.v. Plasmaconcentrations were measured using a sensitive radioimmunoassaymethod. The distribution of phenoperidine was described accordingto a two-compartment open model. The mean distribution half-life(T) for the five patients was short (2.2 min); the mean eliminationhalf-life (T^ß) was 193 min. The mean whole body clearancewas 22 ml min^-1 kg^-1 and the apparent steady state distributionvolume (V^SS) was 5.7 litre kg^-1. Secondary concentration peaksoccurred in all patients; in two patients these were substantialand occurred 80 min after injection.