Tuesday, April 3, 2012

 Q: 58 year old male with renal failure and travelling from europe presented to your ER with digitoxin (not digoxin) toxicity, shown by various blocks on EKG. Patient has been precribed digitoxin (not available in USA) due to its advantage of elimination via liver. What is your option here?

Answer: Digitoxin is mainly eliminated via the liver, and thus not affected by decrease in renal function like digoxin. But, Anti-digoxin antibody fragments, the specific antidote for digoxin toxicity, is similarly effective in life threatening digitoxin toxicity.

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