Question

Sometimes drugs, such as phenobarbital, are given in a higher dose as a loading dose and then tapered back to a maintenance dose. This helps the drug to accumulate to a therapeutic level in the body until the concentration plateaus. When this occurs, the drug has reached which of the following?
a.Nadir
b.Steady state
c.Half-life
d.Bioavailability

Answer 1

Answer:

b.Steady state

Explanation:

When a drug is in a steady state is usually defined as the time during which the drug remains stable when administered repeatedly or continuously (IV infusion) - this is the state where the rate of the drug entering the systemic circulation or drug administration equals to its rate of elimination out of the system. In the case where a drug is administered multiple times in fixed intervals the plasma concentration increases till it plateaus. This administration pattern will  result in a steady-state concentration which is intended to be within the therapeutic window