Icuroom pearls - November 2006

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Monday November 13, 2006


Q: Once you decide to give Digibind (Digoxin Fragmented Antibody) to patient, how you decide the number of vials to be given?

A:
# of Digibind vials = Digoxin level in ng/mL x wt. in kg / 100

Example: If patient's Dig. level is 4.2 ng/ml and his wt. is 70 kg, you need: 4.2 x 70/100 = 2.94 or about 3 vials.

Digibind is an expensive medicine and saving of one vial is even worthed.

* Each vial contains 40 mg of Digoxin immune Fab protein


Bonus Pearl: Digoxin level after giving Digibind will rise and will remain distorted for about 7 days. This is due to ability of Digibind to pull all of the digoxin into blood stream. These are inactive fragments and not toxic. There is no need to follow Dig level after administration of Digibind as it may be misleading.