Digoxine

‘The use of the Foxglove is getting abroad, and it is better the world should derive some instruction, however imperfect, from my experience, than that the lives of men should be hazarded by its unguarded exhibition, or that a medicine of so much efficacy should be condemned and rejected as dangerous and unmanageable’

William Withering, 17851

Inleiding

Hoewel de herdenking van de publikatie van William Witherings ‘Account of the foxglove’ 200 jaar geleden nu weer drie jaren achter ons ligt, worden nog steeds ieder jaar tientallen, merendeels oudere, patiënten in Nederlandse ziekenhuizen opgenomen met evidente of verkapte digitalisvergiftiging. Toch…