drug clearance

• Drug Clearance is the measurement of drug elimination from the body, with units of clearance being volume per time.
• Total Body Clearance is the drug elimination rate divided by the plasma concentration.
• Renal Clearance is the volume of drug contained in the plasma that is removed by the kidney per unit time, with units expressed in volume per time.
• Hepatic Clearance is the volume of drug-containing plasma that is cleared by the liver per unit time, usually including biliary drug clearance.
• Biliary Drug Clearance is usually included in hepatic clearance and applies to high-molecular-weight compounds (>500 g/mol) or polar drugs.
• Drugs may be recycled by the enterohepatic circulation.
• Factors affecting Hepatic Clearance include blood flow and protein binding.
• A drug has an elimination half-life of 3 hours and its apparent volume of distribution is 100 mL/Kg.
• The total body renal clearance of this drug in a 70-kg male can be calculated in liters per hour.