Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 1992 Jan;47(1):41-3.
doi: 10.1136/thx.47.1.41.

Prophylactic digitalisation in pulmonary surgery

A J Ritchie  1 , M Danton, J R Gibbons
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Prophylactic digitalisation in pulmonary surgery

A J Ritchie et al. Thorax. 1992 Jan.

Abstract

Background: Prophylactic digoxin is widely used in patients undergoing pulmonary surgery to prevent or control cardiac arrhythmias, but whether it is helpful or not is uncertain.

Methods: An open, controlled randomised prospective clinical study of 111 patients was undertaken to compare the incidence of cardiac arrhythmias in the 58 patients who received preoperative digoxin and the 53 who did not.

Results: Cardiac arrhythmia occurred in half (29/58) of those given prophylactic digoxin and in 36% (19/53) of those who were not. The overall incidence of arrhythmia was 43%, with no statistically significant difference between the groups.

Conclusion: Cardiac arrhythmias remain an important complication of pulmonary surgery and the incidence is not reduced by prophylactic digoxin.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Ann Intern Med. 1977 Oct;87(4):459-65 - PubMed
    1. Surg Gynecol Obstet. 1968 Apr;126(4):743-6 - PubMed
    1. Ann Intern Med. 1984 Jul;101(1):113-7 - PubMed
    1. J Thorac Surg. 1957 Jul;34(1):105-10 - PubMed
    1. Ann Thorac Surg. 1975 Aug;20(2):215-36 - PubMed