Digitalis intoxication: diagnosis, management strategy, and prevention
Current guidelines recommend prescribing cardiac glycosides with caution. However, considering their pharmacological properties and narrow therapeutic index, the rate of incorrect use of cardiac glycosides in clinical practice is still high. Digitalis toxicity develops at various serum concentrations of digoxin (generally, at concentrations > 2.0 ng/ml). Preventive strategies for digitalis toxicity should be based on both serum digoxin concentrations and its risk factors. Optimal doses of cardiac glycosides should be selected based on patient’s age, comorbidities, renal functions, and drug interactions. A wide spectrum of cardiac and non-cardiac manifestations of digitalis toxicity significantly hampers its diagnosis. The most common symptoms are irregular heartbeat and conduction abnormalities, nausea, vomiting, weakness, dizziness, headache, psychic disorders, and vision loss. The management strategy for digitalis toxicity is based on the severity of clinical signs. Severe life-threatening arrhythmias are a reason to prescribe anti-digoxin antibodies (Fab-fragments), which are, unfortunately, not readily available in Russian clinical practice.