DETERMINANTS OF SERUM HALF-LIFE OF GLUTETHIMIDE IN INTOXICATED PATIENTS

¹ Department of Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C.

To determine factors that influence the disappearance of glutethimide from serum of intoxicated patients an evaluation was made by determination of the levels in serum sampled before and after various types of therapy. The calculated duration of time for a serum level to be reduced to half its initial value, the serum half-life in intoxicated patients, averaged 40.1 hours. The half-life in patients treated with hemodialysis was 14.6 hours. Renal failure did not prolong the serum half-life nor did diuresis shorten it. There was a positive correlation between the serum level and the serum half-life, r = 0.56. This is interpreted as consistent with rate-limited enzymatic degradation of glutethimide. The serum half-life did not correlate with the time interval after ingestion in this group of patients. In some patients with hypotension the serum half-life was prolonged, suggesting impaired perfusion of tissue responsible for elimination of glutethimide, presumably the liver.