Morphine metabolism in neonates and infants. |
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| Authors: | I Choonara A Lawrence A Michalkiewicz A Bowhay J Ratcliffe |
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| Affiliation: | Institute of Child Health, Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool. |
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| Abstract: | The metabolism of morphine was studied in seven fullterm neonates and five infants receiving a continuous infusion of morphine. All the patients had detectable plasma concentrations of morphine 3-glucuronide (M3G) and 10 had detectable concentrations of morphine 6-glucuronide (M6G). The mean plasma clearance of morphine was 20.1 ml min-1 kg-1 in neonates and 23.4 ml min-1 kg-1 in the group as a whole. The M3G/morphine ratio (7.3) was higher than that previously reported for preterm neonates (5.0) but lower than that reported for children (23.9). |
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