MEDizzy - A 68-year-old woman recently diagnosed with stage C heart

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Drugs for Cardiac Failure

A 68-year-old woman recently diagnosed with stage C heart failure started a treatment with digoxin. Knowing that digoxin has a clearance of about 7L/h and an oral bioavailability of about 70%,which of the following doses (in milligrams) was most likely given to achieve a mean steady-state plasma concentration of 1 μg/L?

ExplanationA maintenance dose of a drug is given by: D = (Css × CL)/F, where D is dose, Css is concentration at steady state, CL is clearance, and F is oral bioavailability. Therefore: Dose = (1 μg/L × 7L/h)/0.7 = 10 μg/h = 0.24 m g daily