A Comprehensive Review of the Pharmacologic Perspective on Loop Diuretic Drug Interactions with Therapeutically Used Drugs

Loop diuretics help to manage the patients with edema associated with congestive heart failure, liver cirrhosis, and renal disease and hypertension. The patients taking loop diuretics may receive other medications to treat comorbidities leading to drug interactions.

The literature was searched in databases such as Medline/PMC/PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, Science Direct, EMBASE, Web of science, Ebsco, Directory of open access journals (DOAJ) and reference lists were used to spot relevant articles using keywords Drug interactions, Pharmacodynamic interactions, Loop diuretics, Bumetanide, Ethacrynic acid, Furosemide, and Torsemide.

Loop diuretics are associated with hypokalemia, ototoxicity and other adverse effects. The drugs affected by hypokalemia and having the potential of inducing ototoxicity could interact with loop diuretics pharmacodynamically. Loop diuretics can interact with drugs such as amphotericin B, digoxin, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors), antidiabetic drugs, antifungal agents, dobutamine, gossypoland sotalol due to diuretic associated hypokalemia. In addition, the risk of ototoxicity could be enhanced by the concomitant use of loop diuretics and cisplatin, aminoglycoside antibiotics or phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE 5) inhibitors. Loop diuretics may also interact pharmacodynamically with drugs like cephalosporins, ceritinib, levothyroxine, pixantrone, probenecid, lithium, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), sulfonylureas and herbal drugs.

Clinicians, pharmacists and other health care providers should take responsibility for the safe use of medications. In addition, they are required to be aware of the drugs interacting with loop diuretics to prevent adverse drug interactions.