Pharmacology and Pathologies Treatment Case Study

Pharmacology and Pathologies Treatment - Case Study Example The dosage of drugs this patient receives will be initially higher than the standard recommended because the circulation loss means that the required amount of drug may not have the desired distribution effects (Dreyer, 2005). Due to the gastrointestinal tract removal, the administrating doctor may decide that any treatment for PVD needs to be administered intravenously, and as such the dosage will be lower due to the differences in absorption via this method. The nurse must monitor the progression of the symptoms of PVD. For example, if the patient was presenting with claudication, then the extent of this would need to be continuously monitored throughout the treatment period to see if this was improving. Additionally, blood pressure would need to be measured periodically to see if there was any improvement in blood flow throughout the vascular system (Birkett, 2002). The patient would also need to be monitored for cardiovascular events such as cardiac arrest or stroke as these occur more frequently in patients presenting with PVD (Dreyer, 2005). Heparin is cleared from the body one of two ways, depending on the dosage used. At low doses, it is cleared through the reticuloendothelial system, and at high doses, both this and a renal clearing system are employed. As the dosages involved here are fairly high, and clearance is reduced in patients with cirrhosis of the liver or renal failure (Granger et al., 2001), we may make the assumption that there may be some issues in the renal clearing system in this patient and we may have to make further investigations into the state of the kidney.