Summary
Single-dose investigations in healthy subjects have demonstrated substantial impairment of renal and extrarenal clearance of digoxin during coadministration of verapamil. A longitudinal study has been performed to assess the changes in digoxin disposition during long-term verapamil therapy. After one week of verapamil 240 mg/d mean plasma digoxin had risen from 0.21±0.01 ng/ml (SE) to 0.34±0.01 ng/ml (p<0.01), and renal digoxin clearance had fallen from 197.57±17.37 ml/min to 128.20±10.33 ml/min (p<0.001). These changes gradually subsided, and after six weeks, renal digoxin clearance had normalized and plasma digoxin had declined to 0.27±0.02 ng/ml (NS). The 24-h urinary recovery of digoxin increased from 46.46±3.23% before to 69.78±3.69% (p<0.001) after six weeks of verapamil co-administration, and this elevation persisted throughout the study. The verapamil-induced suppression of renal digoxin elimination disappears over a few weeks of drug exposure, whereas the inhibition of the extrarenal clearance of digoxin seems to persist.
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Pedersen, K.E., Dorph-Pedersen, A., Hvidt, S. et al. The long-term effect of verapamil on plasma digoxin concentration and renal digoxin clearance in healthy subjects. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 22, 123–127 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00542456
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00542456