OBSERVATION ON THE SERUM DIGOXIN CONCENTRATION WITH MAINTENANCE DOSE METHOD AND THERAPEUTIC EFFECT / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Twenty-five children with cardiac failure were treated with the mainte-nance small dosage(0.01 mg/kg/day). The serum digoxin concentration was identified by periodic 125 I-digoxin radioimmunoassay and monitored by EKG. partial symptoms of cardiac failure improved after 24 hrs. A large number of the patients got better significantly 3-5 days later and cardiac failure was controlled.The serum digoxin concentration was 0.815?0.1 ng/mg after 24 hrs, then elevated gradually. The range of serum concentration was about 0.664-1.187 ng/ ml from the 4th on to the 4th week after medication. The mean concentration of serum digoxin in two patients was 0.835 ?0.163 ng/ml in 12 wks.No toxicity symptoms were found except in 2 cases with precardiac beat. The authors suggest that persisted serum digoxin concentration in about 1 ng/ ml is safe and effective.Thus, it is considered that this method could be applied to not very ill children of all ages in OPD where no satisfactory observation can be made.