Cimetidine and renal failure.

Introduction Cimetidine is a recently introduced but widely used histamine H2-antagonist. It is known to produce significant increases in plasma creatinine in normal people but the increased values usually remain in the normal range (Burland and Simkins, 1977). In clinical trials a tendency for plasma creatinine to rise, particularly in patients treated with high doses of cimetidine, was found but with continued treatment values generally remained steady or fell (Haggie, Fermont and Wyllie, 1976; Blackwood et al., 1976). McElligott (1978) reported a patient who had a reversible deterioration in renal function during cimetidine therapy and a further case is now reported where a rapid resolution of symptoms and improvement in renal function followed cessation of cimetidine.