Pharmacokinetic studies of procainamide (PA) and N-acetylprocainamide (NAPA) in healthy subjects.

Pharmacokinetic studies after a single oral dose of 750 mg of PA in 10 normal subjects were performed. In 6 of them, pharmacokinetics of NAPA were also determined after a single oral dose of 900 mg of NAPA. Substantial differences in pharmacokinetic parameters of PA depending on acetylation phenotype were found.

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies of procainamide given intermittently intravenously in patients with severe ventricular arrhytmias.

In 15 patients with coronary heart disease and ventricular arrhythmias 100 mg of procainamide was given intravenously every 5 min until arrhythmia was abolished, or the patient received 1000 mg of the drug, or side-effects appeared. Then patients were placed on oral maintenance therapy 3 or 4 g daily according to their weight. In 13 out of 15 patients arrhythmia was completely suppressed after intravenous injections of the drug.

Correlation between acid-base status, concentrations of lactate and of pyruvate in blood and cerebrospinal fluid in patients treated in an intensive care unit.

Results of examinations of 41 patients treated in an intensive care unit are reported. The patients were divided into three groups and examined on the first and twelfth days of treatment. In the first group were 15 patients who had received circulatory resuscitation, the second group was 13 patients with lesions of the central nervous system of traumatic or vascular origin and the third group was 13 patients with acute respiratory insufficiency of toxic or infective origin.