Noncompartmental pharmacokinetic analysis of nondepolarising neuromuscular blocking agents.

Noncompartmental pharmacokinetic methods using the statistical moment theory can be very helpful in comparing the mean residence time of drugs in the body. These methods are based on the estimation of the area under the time versus plasma concentration curve after a single intravenous drug bolus, and can also be used to estimate clearance, effective half life and the apparent volume of distribution of the drug. In the group of nondepolarising neuromuscular blocking drugs, atracurium offers the advantage of having the smallest mean residence time.