In: Nursing
Renal excretion is the most common route of drug elimination. However, many drugs are excreted into bile via the liver and some volatile substances (primarily gaseous anesthetics) can be excreted via the lungs.
These organs or structures use specific routes to expel a drug from the body, these are termed elimination pathways:
While drugs and their metabolites are mostly excreted by the kidneys into urine, drugs can also leave the body in other methods, such as breath and sweat, hence the noticeable smell of alcohol on someone who has been drinking very heavily