ABSTRACT
Learning objectives ■ Brief history ■ Classifi cation of NSAIDs with examples ■ Chemistry of aspirin ■ Mechanism of action of aspirin ■ Uses of aspirin and other NSAIDs ■ Aspirin preparations ■ Absorption, metabolism and excretion
of aspirin ■ Adverse effects of aspirin and other NSAIDs ■ Precautions and contraindications with NSAIDs
Learning objectives Be able to give some examples of NSAIDs. ■ Be able to draw the chemical structure of aspirin. ■ Know basically how aspirin works. ■ Be ready to list uses of NSAIDs. ■ Know the forms of aspirin used, the routes of administration of aspirin ■ and the advantages and disadvantages of these routes. Be able to give an account of the adverse effects of aspirin and other ■ NSAIDs. Know the given precautions and contraindications with NSAIDs. ■
Brief history Willow bark has been chewed by people for more than 2000 years, especially by women in labour, and eighteenth century English practitioners, notably Edward Stone, used willow bark to lower fever. Patients were eating salicin, a glycoside, and at the turn of the twentieth century the Bayer Pharmaceutical Company marketed their synthetic derivative, acetylsalicylic acid, under the trade name aspirin.
