Digoxin-quinidine interaction in patients with renal failure

Abstract

Investigations were performed in order to study whether or not quinidine would exert similar effects on the serum digoxin concentration in patients with renal failure as in normal subjects. Fourteen out of fifteen patients showed a significant increase of the serum digoxin level after four days of quinidine application. This indicates, that the quinidine effect is not solely caused by a decrease of the renal digoxin clearance, although nine patients, not being hemodialysed, revealed a correlation between their creatinine clearance and the rise of the serum digoxin concentration after quinidine. As however, the patients on hemodialysis did not show higher digoxin levels than those treated conservatively, it is suggested that the degree of the uremic intoxication might be responsible for the observed correlation.