Assessment of Abnormal Serum Digoxin Concentration

ABSTRACT Cardiac glycosides have been used in the management of heart failure for more than 200 years and remain the only drug currently available for Long-term ambulatory use that have positive inotropic effect. The relatively narrow therapeutic- index of cardiac glycosides renders them particularly difficult to use, and the clinician should have a detailed understanding of the actions and pharmacokinetics of one drug of this class, such as digoxin. The Purpose of this study was determination of frequency of abnormal digoxin level in patients who was taking this drug. We studied SDC(Serum Digoxin Concentration) of Patients referred to nuclear medicine department of Dr. Heshmat hospital inpatients or outpatients status from 1995 to 1999. Digoxin serum concentration were measured using radioimmunoassay technique. Data were analyzed by using chi-square test. 668 (69.5%) of 960 Patients had SDC out of therapeutic range. Elevated SDC(>2ng/ml) occurred in 202 (21%) Patients, but 466 (48.5%) had SDC below therapeutic range (<1.1 ng/ml). There was not significant difference between sex and age with SDC (P>0.05). Comparison with Pervious studies, our research showed much more abnormal SDCs.