Cimetidine Decreases Theophylline Clearance

rugs. A 71-year-old, 73-kg, white woman was admitted for resec-tion of a left upper lobe pulmonary nodule. Her medical history included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, peptic ulcer disease, simple mastectomy, and removal of a malignant mela-notic lesion from her right forearm. She has a greater than 50 pack-year smoking history and currently smokes 1 to 2 packs per day. Her only drug therapy before admission was with ant-acids. She had surgery without complications and was extubat-ed on the first postoperative day with satisfactory arterial blood gases. On the second postoperative day, she became dyspneic with increased wheezes and deteriorating blood gases. She was treated with a 250 mg (3.4 mg/kg body weight) intravenous bolus dose of aminophylline and oral therapy was initiated at 200 mg of aminophylline every 6 hours. After five doses were