Skip to main content

Drugs and the Renal System

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Pharmacological Basis of Acute Care

Abstract

Renal impairment can be classified as acute or chronic renal disease. Renal impairment has significant effects on drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. All aspects of drug pharmacokinetics can be affected (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion). Drug absorption will be reduced due to delayed gastric emptying and also due to gut edema. Drug distribution is altered due to changes in extracellular fluid volume, plasma protein binding and tissue binding of drugs. There is a decrease in drug metabolism in renal disease due to decreased activity of liver enzymes or alteration in activities of uptake and efflux transporters. Drug excretion in renal disease is affected due to changes in glomerular filtration, tubular secretion or reabsorption. Drug therapy in renal impairment should be individualized according to the extent of renal impairment and tendency of a drug used to cause nephrotoxicity. The route of elimination from the body and therapeutic index of the drugs are also important considerations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Further Reading

  1. Atkinson A. Effects of renal disease on pharmacokinetics. 1999. Available from http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/hisham/Documents/Students/a_PHCL/renal.pdf. Last accessed 22 June 2014.

  2. Bellomo R, Ronco C, Kellum JA, Mehta RL, Palevsky P, The Other ADQI Workgroup. Acute renal failure – definition, outcome measures, animal models, fluid therapy and information technology needs: the Second International Consensus Conference of the Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative (ADQI) Group. Crit Care. 2004;8:R204–12. doi:10.1186/cc 2872. Available from http://ccforum.com/content/8/4/R204

  3. Bowman L, Luppa J. Principles of drug dosing in renal impairment. In: Cheng S, Vijayan A, editors. The Washington manualTM: Nephrology. 3rd ed. Alphen aan den Rijn: Publisher under Wolters Kluwer (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins). 2012. ISBN 9781451114256.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cockcroft DW, Gault MH. Prediction of creatinine clearance from serum creatinine. Nephron. 1976;16:31–41.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Kidney Disease Outcome Quality Initiative (K/DOQ1) Advisory Board. K/DOQ1 clinical practice guidelines for chronic renal diseases: evaluation, classification and stratification. Kidney Disease Outcome Quality Initiative. Am J Kidney Dis. 2002;39(2 Suppl 1):S1–246.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Pichette V, Leblond FA. Drug metabolism in chronic renal failure. Curr Drugs Metab. 2003;4(2):91–103. Available from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12678690. Last accessed on 16 June 2014.

  7. Reindenbery MM, Drayer DE. Alteration of drug protein binding in renal disease. Clin Pharmacokinet. 1984;9(Suppl):18–26.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Sun H, Frassetto L, Benet LZ. Effects of renal failure on drug transport and metabolism. Pharmacol Ther. 2006;109(1–2):1–11. Epub 8 Aug 2005. Available from www.ncbi.nlm.gov/pubmed/16085315) Last accessed on 16 June 2014

  9. Verbeek RK, Musuamba FT. Pharmacokinetics and dosage adjustment in patients with renal dysfunction. Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2009;65(8):757–73. doi:10.1007/s00228-009-0678, Epub 20 Jun 2009

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sukcharanjit Singh Bakshi Singh M.D., M.Anaes .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Bakshi Singh, S.S., Veerakumaran, J. (2015). Drugs and the Renal System. In: Chan, Y., Ng, K., Sim, D. (eds) Pharmacological Basis of Acute Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10386-0_15

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10386-0_15

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-10385-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-10386-0

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics