Digoxin

Synonyms / Brand Names:

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Dosing and Administration

Because the pharmacokinetics of Digoxin are complex, and because toxic levels of Digoxin are only slightly higher than therapeutic levels, Digoxin dosing can be difficult. The recommended approach is to:

estimate the patient’s daily maintenance dose;
adjust the estimate to account for patient-specific factors;
choose a dosing regimen;
monitor the patient for toxicity and for therapeutic effect, if possible; and
adjust the dose.

Estimated daily maintenance dose

Children > 2 years old - daily oral dose 10 mcg/kg/day
Prepubertal children - daily oral dose 10 mcg/kg/day
Adults - daily oral dose 3 mcg/kg/day

These doses will, in uncomplicated patients, tend to produce steady-state post-absorptive levels of 1 to 2 ng/mL, but the confidence limits around this range are wide.

FDA Package Insert Resources
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Calculate Creatine Clearance
On line calculator of your patients Cr Cl by a variety of formulas.

Convert pounds to Kilograms
On line calculator of your patients weight in pounds to Kg for dosing estimates.

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