Pharmacokinetic Characteristics of Amiodarone in Long-Term Oral Therapy in Japanese Population

Discontinuing amiodarone treatment prior to heart transplantation lowers incidence of severe primary graft dysfunction

“…Amiodarone is a class III antiarrhythmic drug that also has some properties of classes I, II, and IV antiarrhythmic drugs and has long been considered the antiarrhythmic drug of choice for ventricular tachyarrhythmias, especially in patients with end‐stage heart failure . The serum elimination half‐life of amiodarone has been found to range from 21 to 120 days . Adverse effects of amiodarone treatment are well‐documented, with gastrointestinal, neurologic, pulmonary, and thyroid toxicity among the most significant .…”

Incidence and predictability of amiodarone-induced thyrotoxicosis and hypothyroidism

“…In addition, arrhythmia linked to cardiac disease affects predominantly the elderly, in whom thyroid disease is also more prevalent. Amiodarone has a high iodine content of about 37%, a long half-life of approximately 55 days and can alter thyroid hormone production and secretion [1][2][3][4]. Furthermore, amiodarone is a potent inhibitor of 5´-deiodination of thyroxine (T4) and reverse triiodothyronine (rT3), resulting in an increase of serum T4 and rT3 and a decrease of serum triiodothyronine (T3) [4][5][6].…”

Effect of obesity on serum amiodarone concentration in Japanese patients: population pharmacokinetic investigation by multiple trough screen analysis

“…However, Kashima et al. (28) have reported that clearance of AMD in Japanese patients after oral administration was not affected by age. This discrepancy may be because of the small sample size in our study.…”