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[Value of determining dexamethasone in the rapid adrenal suppression test]
D Lamiable1, V Sulmont, H Millart
1Laboratoire de Pharmacologie et Chimie des Explorations Fonctionnelles, Centre Hospitalier Régional, Reims.
Abstract:
During the dexamethasone suppression test (DST), we evaluated the relationship between the 8 a.m. dexamethasone (DXM) level and the pharmacokinetics of this corticoid after the oral administration of a single dose at midnight of DXM (1 mg) in 7 healthy subjects. The half-life time of the terminal phase for DXM was 283 min +/- 132 min (mean +/- s.d.). The 8 a.m. DXM level, which is positively correlated with the DXM half-life time, is useful for the interpretation of the DST. On the other hand, no correlation was observed between the 8 a.m. plasma cortisol and DXM levels in 21 healthy subjects. However, the negative correlation between the dose of DXM/kg and post-DXM cortisol level suggests the possibility of adjusting the dose of DXM in obese patients.