In spite of old vintage and 200 years of clinical use, digitalis remains an interesting therapeutic agent, to clinicians as well as to the pharmacologist, the biochemist, and colleagues in other diciplines of theoretic medicine. When a drug, however, has so many attractive facets, it seems proper and aJvis able for the success of a scientific meeting to focus on a number of well-defined aspects. This symposium was devoted to pharmacokinetics, drug metabolism, analytic procedures, blood level determinations, and their interpretation both for thera peutic and toxic situations. Considerable progress has been made during the last years in this area of digitalis research. The time was suitable for a critical reap praisal of facts and theories and for future planning. Our main intention was to relate analytic data and biochemical findings to clinical problems and questions. Despite the undoubtedly basic character of clinical pharmacology, it is neverthe less an applied science which should help to develop the rational basis of thera peutics. We are particularly grateful to the active participants who bore the burden of preparing presentations and - even worse - manuscripts. At the same time we are well-aware that many other active research groups would have been able to contribute in this way, but our program was limited because of the short time available. Their knowledge is included in the discussion parts of the meeting, so we hope a well-balanced description of the present state of affairs emerged in this volume.

1 Evaluation of Different Methods for Determining Serum Concentrations of Cardiac Glycosides

2 A New Simple Assay for Determining Digoxin Serum Levels
3 Chloroform-Extractable and Polar Metabolites Examined With Different Assays
4 Studies of the Metabolism of Digoxin and Digitoxin Using Double Isotope Dilution Derivative Methods
5 Occurence and Chemical Nature of Polar Water-Soluble Digoxin Metabolites
6 Pharmacokinetics and Metabolism of Digitoxin in the Human
7 Dihydrodigitoxin, a Metabolite of Digitoxin in Humans
8 Enterohepatic Circulation of Digitoxin Metabolites in the Dog
9 ?-Methyl-Digoxin, a New Lipophilic Digoxin Derivative
10 Tissue Distribution of Cardiac Glycosides
11 Plasma-Tissue Distribution of Different Cardiac Glycosides
12 Significance of Plasma Concentration of Digoxin in Relation to the Myocardial Concentration of the Drug
13 Influence of Thyroid Function on the Pharmacokinetics of Cardiac Glycosides
14 Effect of Jejunoileal Bypass on the Bioavailability of Digoxin in Man
15 Bioavailability of Digoxin in Renal Insufficiency and Heart Failure
16 Bioavailability Studies: Their Influence on the Clinical Use of Digitalis
17 Comparative Pharmacokinetics of Various Digoxin Preparations in Man
18 Digoxin Pharmacokinetics and Their Relation to Clinical Dosage Parameters
19 Clinical Interpretation of Serum Concentrations of Cardiac Glycosides
20 Assessment of Digoxin Action by a Pharmacodynamic Biochemical Method
21 Relationships Between Doses, Plasma Levels and Cardiac Effects Under Digitalis Treatment
22.1 Therapeutic Implications of Digoxin Kinetics in Impaired Renal Function
22.2 Peak Plasma Digoxin Concentration and Cardiotoxicity
22.3 Biliary Excretion of ?-Acetyl-Digoxin in Man
23 DigitoxinPharmacokinetics in Patients With Renal Disease
24 Increased Digitalis Tolerance in Uremic Patients
25 Digitoxin and Digoxin in Patients With Chronic Renal Failure and on Hemodialysis
26 International Patterns of Clinical Use and Toxicity of Digitalis Glycosides: Report From the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program
27 Pharmacokinetic and Clinical Effects During the Predistribution Phase of Digoxin Treatment
28 Digitalis Intoxication: Clinical and Experimental Work
29 Digitalis Intoxication: Specificity of Clinical and Electrocardiographic Signs
30 Treatment of Digitalis Intoxication
31 Biologic Effects of Specific Antibodies in Reversing the Pharmacologic and Toxic Effects of Digoxin
32 Reversal of Digitoxin Toxicity and Modification of Pharmacokinetics by Specific Antibodies
33 ?-Methyl-Digoxin Disposition During Spironolactone Treatment
34 Digitoxin Disposition Under Rifampicin Treatment
35 Is There a Need for New Cardiac Glycosides? For More Blood Level Determinations?.