The -effect of verapamil on the pharmacokinetics of digoxin was studied in 49 patients with chronic atrial fibrillation. A dose of 240 mg/day of verapamil was given to the patients who were receiving a stable dose of digoxin. Serum digoxin levels rose from 0.76 i 0.54 ng/ml (mean ± SD) to 1.31 ± 0.54 ng/ml during verapamil treatment (p < 0.0005). This effect was dose-dependent, as shown in seve...

394 CLINICAL CHEMISTRY, Vol. 29, No. 2, 1983 logarithmic but biphasic in nature. The biological half-life of the drug was shorter 124 h if estimated by visual inspection; 13 h if estimated by the method of residuals (1)1 during the first two days, longer (52 h) for the following three days (Figure 1). At therapeutic concentration in plasma, digoxin enters the elimination (/3) phase from the dis...

In a series of 102 digitalised patients serum digoxin levels (SDL) were determined by radioimmunoassay (RIA). Age categorisation included juveniles (15%), adults (67%) and geriatrics (18%). Clinical categorisation included loading, adequate, inadequate, toxic, and borderline digitalisation groups. The mean SDL in the toxic-group was 3 .93 ng/ml (S.D. 1.40), and in the nontoxic group 1.27 ng/ml ...

Four patients with a single allografted kidney were given 1.0 mg of tritiated digoxin intravenously. Compared with patients with two normally functioning kidneys, these patients cxhibited increased digoxin serum levels, modestly reduced renal excretion, and increased stool excretion of digoxin during a 7-day study. When administration of digoxin is indicated for a patient with a renal transplan...

Introduction. Digoxin is used to control ventricular rate in atrial fibrillation (AF). There is conflicting evidence regarding safety of digoxin. We aimed to evaluate the risk of mortality with digoxin use in patients with AF using meta-analyses. Methods. PubMed was searched for studies comparing outcomes of patients with AF taking digoxin versus no digoxin, with or without heart failure (HF). ...

The increased proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are key events in the development of artery restenosis following percutaneous coronary intervention. Digoxin has long been used in the treatment of heart failure and has been shown to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells through multiple pathways. However, the potential role of digoxin in the regulation of VS...

BACKGROUND The advent of medical therapies for congestive heart failure that have proven survival benefits, specifically angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, beta-adrenergic antagonists, and the aldosterone antagonists, have called into question the use of digoxin for patients with normal sinus rhythm, left ventricular dysfunction, and symptomatic heart failure. This issue appears to...

Digoxin therapy has long been used to treat heart failure; however, its effectiveness was not completely known until recently. Results of the Digitalis Investigation Group trial showed that adding digoxin to standard heart failure therapy had no effect on mortality. However, adding digoxin decreased hospitalizations related to heart failure and improved symptoms in patients treated for heart fa...

Digoxin has been the cornerstone of the treatment of heart failure for more than 2 centuries. Now that newer therapies have been introduced that reduce the mortality rate in heart failure and recent trials have failed to prove the same for digoxin, its use has significantly decreased. But a careful review of the multiple pharmacologic actions of digoxin and closer analysis of the results of rec...