Gentamicin and Digoxin Interaction
Drug interaction information between Gentamicin and Digoxin.
Gentamicin and Digoxin have a documented minor interaction in FDA labeling.
FDA drug labeling documents a minor-severity interaction between Gentamicin and Digoxin. Major interactions are generally avoided, moderate ones may need monitoring or a dose adjustment, and minor ones are usually low-risk. This page shows the documented mechanism and guidance. Label-documented interactions are not a complete safety review, so always confirm your own medications with a pharmacist or doctor. Educational information, not medical advice.
How They Interact
Gentamicin can significantly increase the amount of digoxin in your blood, sometimes doubling it or more. This happens because the antibiotic affects how your body clears the heart medicine.
What To Do
Your doctor must check your digoxin levels before you start gentamicin. They will likely need to lower your digoxin dose to prevent it from reaching dangerous levels.
FDA Label Information
Captopril 58% 39% Clarithromycin NA 70% Dronedarone NA 150% Gentamicin 129-212% NA Erythromycin 100% NA Itraconazole 80% NA Lapatinib NA 180% Propafenone NA 60-270% Quinidine 100% NA Ranolazine 50% NA Ritonavir NA 86% Telaprevir 50% 85% Tetracycline 100% NA Verapamil 50-75% NA Digoxin concentrations increased less than 50% Atorvastatin 22% 15% Carvedilol 16% 14% Measure serum digoxin concentrations before initiating concomitant drugs.
Gentamicin Also Interacts With
- Cidofovir major
- Bictegravir/Emtricitabine/Tenofovir minor
- Emtricitabine/Tenofovir minor
- Perindopril minor
- Piperacillin/Tazobactam minor
Digoxin Also Interacts With
- Nicardipine major
- Posaconazole major
- Sotalol moderate
- Dofetilide moderate
- Ivabradine moderate
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take Gentamicin and Digoxin together?
This is a minor interaction. Your doctor must check your digoxin levels before you start gentamicin. They will likely need to lower your digoxin dose to prevent it from reaching dangerous levels.
How serious is the interaction between Gentamicin and Digoxin?
This interaction is classified as "minor" severity by the FDA. Minor interactions are unlikely to cause significant problems but should still be mentioned to your healthcare provider.
Why do Gentamicin and Digoxin interact?
Gentamicin can significantly increase the amount of digoxin in your blood, sometimes doubling it or more. This happens because the antibiotic affects how your body clears the heart medicine.
Understanding the Gentamicin and Digoxin Interaction
FDA-approved prescribing information for these two drugs flags their combination as a minor-severity interaction. Gentamicin belongs to the Aminoglycoside Antibiotic class and Digoxin belongs to the Cardiac Glycoside class - two categories that can collide when co-prescribed. The mechanism described in FDA labeling is: Gentamicin can significantly increase the amount of digoxin in your blood, sometimes doubling it or more. Severity tiers matter: major flags generally advise avoidance, moderate flags often require monitoring or dose adjustment, and minor flags may only call for awareness.
Context around a specific patient determines real-world impact. Gentamicin has 7 total documented interactions on file in this dataset, and Digoxin has 120. Each additional medication compounds the interaction surface, which is why pharmacists run full-profile checks rather than evaluating one pair at a time. FDA-derived guidance for this pair is: Your doctor must check your digoxin levels before you start gentamicin. Timing of doses, renal and hepatic function, age, and other concurrent prescriptions all shape whether a labeled interaction matters clinically.
An interaction flag is not a verdict. A large share of labeled interactions are managed routinely in clinical practice, the fix may be as simple as spacing doses or adding a monitoring test. Others require the prescriber to choose a different medication entirely. This page surfaces FDA-sourced labeling and openFDA data for educational purposes only; it is not medical advice and cannot account for your full clinical picture. Never start, stop, or adjust either Gentamicin or Digoxin based on a web page, speak with your prescriber or pharmacist before making any change.
Sources: FDA Drug Labels (SPL) via openFDA (2026). This is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider about drug interactions.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.