Use of amiodarone and digoxin specific Fab antibodies in digoxin overdosage

Abstract

A 61 year old man with mild aortic stenosis and chronic depression took 12.5 mg digoxin in a suicide attempt. Ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation were resistant to lignocaine and to phenytoin but responded to intravenous amiodarone, with restoration of pacing. Because of persistent hyperkalaemia he was also treated with Fab fragments of digoxin specific antibody, which bound most of the ingested digoxin. It is suggested that the treatment of choice in severe digoxin poisoning is amiodarone for ventricular arrhythmias followed by pacing if necessary and the use of Fab antibody fragments if hyperkalaemia persists.