Vhm. Deneer et al., ABSORPTION KINETICS OF ORAL SOTALOL COMBINED WITH CISAPRIDE AND SUBLINGUAL SOTALOL IN HEALTHY-SUBJECTS, British journal of clinical pharmacology, 45(5), 1998, pp. 485-490
Aims To study the absorption kinetics of sotalol following administrat
ion of different formulations. A formulation which results in fast abs
orption might be useful in the episodic treatment of paroxysmal suprav
entricular tachycardia (SVT), atrial fibrillation (Afib) or atrial flu
tter (Afl). Methods In an open randomized crossover study seven health
y male volunteers were given an intravenous infusion of 20 mg sotalol,
for assessing the absolute bioavailability, an oral solution containi
ng 80 mg sotalol, an oral solution containing both 80 mg sotalol and 2
0 mg cisapride and an 80 mg sotalol tablet, which was taken sublingual
ly. Results The addition of cisapride decreased the time at which maxi
mum serum concentrations were reached (t(max)) from 2.79 (1.85-4.34) h
to 1.16 (0.68-2.30) h (P=0.009) [95% CI: -2.59, -0.55] and increased
the absorption rate constant (k(a)) from 0.49 (0.31-0.69) h(-1) to 1.2
6 (0.52-5.61) h(-1) (P=0.017). The absolute bioavailability of sotalol
was reduced by cisapride from 1.00 +/- 0.15 to 0.70 +/- 0.26 (P=0.006
), while maximum serum concentrations of both oral solutions were not
significantly different. Compared with the sublingually administered t
ablet with a median t(max) of 2.12 (0.89-3.28) h, the sotalol/cisaprid
e oral solution gave a smaller t(max) (p=0.009) [95% CI: -1.64, -0.36]
. The k(a) of the sotalol/cisapride solution was significanty (P=0.010
) larger than the k(a) of 0.56 (0.33-0.75) h(-1) found after sublingua
l administration of the tablet. Conclusions The sotalol/cisapride oral
solution might be suitable for the episodic treatment of SVT, Afib or
Afl.