57. Because a patient experienced diarrhea after the last dose of docetaxel 120 mg, the physician has ordered this month's dose reduced by 20%. How many mg will the new dose be?
Answer: B
The new dose will be 96 mg.
To calculate the new dose after a 20% reduction from the original dose of 120 mg, we first determine the amount to be reduced, which is 24 mg. Subtracting this from the original dose results in a new dose of 96 mg.
A) 24
This option represents a quantity that is significantly less than the new dose after the reduction. It does not reflect any logical calculation related to reducing the original dose of 120 mg.
B) 96
This option is correct as it accurately reflects the new dosage after applying a 20% reduction to the original 120 mg dose. The reduction amount is calculated as 20% of 120 mg (which is 24 mg), and subtracting this from the original dose gives us 96 mg.
C) 100
This option is incorrect because it does not correspond to the proper calculation of the new dose. A reduction of 20% from 120 mg does not yield a result of 100 mg.
D) 144
This option is also incorrect. It suggests an increase rather than a reduction, which is contradictory to the directive of reducing the dose by 20%. Therefore, it is not a valid answer.
Conclusion
The correct answer is 96 mg, as it is the result of a precise calculation following the physician's instruction to reduce the original dose of 120 mg by 20%. All other options fail to represent the correct dosage or imply a misunderstanding of the reduction process.