The Dosage-Response Curve for the Comparison of Mercurial Diuretics

Clinical comparison of frusemide with bendrofluazide, mersalyl, and ethacrynic acid.

“…The efficacy of frusemide, and, to a lesser extent, of ethacrynic acid, was underestimated in comparison with bendrofluazide and mersalyl, for the latter two drugs were given in maximally effective doses for oedematous subjects (Swartz, Seller, Fuchs, Brest, and Moyer, 1963 ;Clarke, Modell, Greiner, Kwit, Gluck, and Gold, 1950). In non-oedematous subjects the maximally effective dose of frusemide is rather more than 150 mg. (Timmerman, Springman, and Thoms, 1964), and that of ethacrynic acid is 200 mg. (Melvin, Farrelly, and North, 1963), but in diuretic-responsive oedematous patients the maximally effective dose of these two drugs may well be higher, as suggested for ethacrynic acid in our own pilot study, by Foltz (1963), and by Maher, O'Connell, Setter, and Schreiner (1964), and for frusemide by the results of trial E. Moreover, frusemide has a duration of action of only four hours (Fig.…”

Primary Sarcoma of the Stomach

“…In ambulant cases able to attend hospital as out-patients the best method of assay of a diuretic is probably that described by Clarke et al (1950);and DeGraff et al (1936) suggest a method suitable for testing a diuretic on inpatients.…”