digoxin and digitalin

10 patients with acute digitalis intoxication were treated by charcoal hemoperfusion. The patients had taken high toxic and lethal doses of digitalis drugs: 3 patients had taken 10 mg of (digitalin, 2 patients--7.5 mg of digoxin, 5 patients--10-25 mg of isolanid (ceglunat). 4 of the patients were with a heart disease and the other 6 patients did not have any heart disease. The charcoal hemoperfusion lasted 4 to 6 hours, in one female patient--2 hours. The mean minute volume was 100 to 150 ml/min, in some patients it reached up to 200 ml/min. The digoxin blood concentration was determined before and after the hemoperfusion in 4 patients and a decrease of 49% was found. 9 patients fully recovered and only one patient, a 70 years old women, who had not received antiarrhythmic treatment, died. Good results were also achieved in digitalin intoxications determined by the clinical course and the electrocardiographic data. The overall estimation of the method is that it is efficient and should be applied to patients with acute digitalis intoxication, always in combination with antidote, antiarrhythmic and cardioprotective treatment.

Topics: Acute Disease; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Charcoal; Digitalis Glycosides; Digoxin; Electrocardiography; Female; Hemoperfusion; Humans; Lanatosides; Male; Middle Aged; Time Factors