Furosemide pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in health and disease--an update.

The literature on furosemide pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics is critically reviewed, concentrating on those papers published subsequent to the 1979 reviews of this topic. Intravenous and oral data are presented for healthy volunteers and for patients with various disease states. It is the latter populations about which the majority of the studies have been published since 1979. Inter- and intraindividual variations in bioavailability are discussed, as are data on the metabolism of furosemide to its glucuronide conjugate. Published studies examining the relationship between furosemide pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics are also evaluated. The literature is reviewed through June 1988.