A patient with sepsis receives an aminoglycoside antibiotic. If this patient experiences a significant drop in albumin concentration, which consequence follows concerning the drug's distribution?

💡 Explanation

When albumin decreases, less drug binds to plasma proteins; this leads to an increased fraction of unbound (free) drug available for distribution into tissues. Because aminoglycosides are cleared renally, a change in free concentration impacts volume distribution, therefore the free drug concentration increases rather than renal clearance being immediately affected.

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