Clinical pharmacokinetics worksheet with answers

Free printable Clinical pharmacokinetics worksheet: 6 problems from easy to exam level, with an answer key. Print it or save it as a PDF.

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1.Easy
Vd = 0.25 L/kgC = 10 mg/LLD = ?68 kg

Practice exercise (made-up values, not clinical guidance). A patient who weighs 68 kg needs a loading dose of gentamicin to reach a level of 10 mg/L straight away. The volume of distribution is 0.25 L/kg. Find the loading dose LD in mg.

68 kgVd = 0.25 L/kgC = 10 mg/L
LD = mg
2.Easy
Vd = 0.25 L/kgC = 8 mg/LLD = ?103 kg

Practice exercise (made-up values, not clinical guidance). A patient who weighs 103 kg needs a loading dose of gentamicin to reach a level of 8 mg/L straight away. The volume of distribution is 0.25 L/kg. Find the loading dose LD in mg.

103 kgVd = 0.25 L/kgC = 8 mg/L
LD = mg
3.Medium
VCss​ = 10 mg/LR = ? mg/h · S = 0.8CL = 0.05 L/kg/h95 kg

Practice exercise (made-up values, not clinical guidance). A 95 kg patient is to receive an aminophylline infusion (salt factor S = 0.8: 80% of aminophylline is theophylline). The theophylline clearance is 0.05 L/kg/h. What aminophylline infusion rate R in mg/h gives a steady-state theophylline level of 10 mg/L?

95 kgCL = 0.05 L/kg/hCss = 10 mg/LS = 0.8
R = mg/h
4.Medium
110t (h)C (mg/L)1 h7 mg/L7 h1.8 mg/L

Practice exercise (made-up values, not clinical guidance). After an IV dose of gentamicin, the level is 7 mg/L at 1 h and 1.8 mg/L at 7 h. Assume first-order elimination. Find the elimination rate constant k.

C1 = 7 mg/L (1 h)C2 = 1.8 mg/L (7 h)
k = h⁻¹
5.Hard
VCss,avg​ = ?1000 mg · q12hCL = 5 L/hS = 1 · F = 1

Practice exercise (made-up values, not clinical guidance). A patient receives vancomycin IV every 12 h; the vancomycin clearance is 5 L/h. Each dose is 1000 mg of vancomycin. Find the average steady-state level Css,avg.

CL = 5 L/hτ = 12 hS = 1F = 1D = 1000 mg
Css,avg = mg/L
6.Hard
VCss,avg​ = ?400 mg · q8hCL = 0.05 L/kg/h63 kg · S = 0.8 · F = 1

Practice exercise (made-up values, not clinical guidance). A 63 kg patient takes oral aminophylline (S = 0.8, F = 1) every 8 h. The theophylline clearance is 0.05 L/kg/h. Each dose is 400 mg of aminophylline. Find the average steady-state level Css,avg.

CL = 0.05 L/kg/hτ = 8 hS = 0.8F = 163 kgD = 400 mg
Css,avg = mg/L

Answer key

  1. 1. LD = 170 mg
  2. 2. LD = 206 mg
  3. 3. R = 59.38 mg/h
  4. 4. k = 0.2264 h⁻¹
  5. 5. Css,avg = 16.67 mg/L
  6. 6. Css,avg = 12.7 mg/L

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