title: Predicting plasma concentrations of bupivacaine after epidural administration in obstetric analgesia.
abstract: The elimination half-life and plasma concentrations of bupivacaine were predicted after its epidural administration in six pregnant women at term for elective Caesarean section using a repeated one-point method. There was a direct correlation between predicted concentrations and observed concentrations of bupivacaine using this simple method (r = 0.9947). The assay of bupivacaine in a 0.5-ml plasma by gas chromatography with nitrogen sensitive detection can be achieved in a short time (rapid extraction and chromatographic analysis required 20 min and 10 min, respectively) to cope with emergency. It is suggested that the repeated one-point method may be useful to obtain early prediction of kinetic parameters in patients who required prolonged epidural anesthesia with bupivacaine in order to minimize adverse effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University, Shatin, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015360:Analgesia, Epidural; D000773:Anesthesia, Obstetrical; D002045:Bupivacaine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood*; D002585:Cesarean Section; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D005260:Female; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D002045:Bupivacaine