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Book

Loading Dose

Anthony Miniaci, Vikas Gupta  1
In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan.
.
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Book

Loading Dose

Anthony Miniaci et al.
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Excerpt

Loading doses are a means to quicks achieve therapeutic drug concentrations or prompt an immediate clinical response. Loading doses are larger than maintenance doses and are usually administered as a single bolus, although some drugs (eg, amiodarone or digoxin) may require multiple loading doses administered over several hours to days. An intravenous loading dose of phenytoin, on the other hand, should be administered as a single dose. Medications with shorter half-lives (eg, heparin for treating pulmonary embolism) may also require a loading dose to achieve their therapeutic effect immediately.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: Anthony Miniaci declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Vikas Gupta declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

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