A quantitative study of the digitoxin content of edema fluids.

For many years it has been suggested that considerable quantities of digitalis bodies accumulate in edema fluid, that rapid diuresis with mercurial diuretic drugs "liberates" these glycosides into the blood stream as the edema fluids are mobilized and excreted by the kidneys, and that the ensuing "redigitalization" may lead to manifestations of digitalis toxicity in the already adequately digitalized patient (1). A survey of the literature reveals that this belief is based largely upon clinical impressions rather than upon careful studies of the content of digitalis glycosides actually present in accumulations of edema fluid. The clinical importance of this problem led to the present investigation of the digitoxin content of edema fluids, utilizing microassay techniques now available.