[Evaluation of pindolol absorption in malabsorption syndromes].

Reports on drug absorption in intestinal diseases are scarce. To investigate pindolol absorption, a drug particularly well absorbed and with low hepatic extraction, plasma concentrations and 54-h urinary excretion (after both oral and intravenous dose) were studied in 6 healthy volunteers and 13 patients with intestinal malabsorption (coeliac disease 5 cases, short bowel syndrome 8 cases) after an overnight fasting. Pindolol plasma concentrations were almost identical after a single intravenous dose in both patients and controls. Again mean blood levels after an unique oral dose were not significantly different between the two groups. However, absorption was slow and/or delayed in eight out of thirteen patients and overall absorption was decreased in two of them. These abnormalities might be related to the diseased intestine, since plasma concentrations and urinary excretion following intravenous administration were quite similar to those observed in volunteers. Nevertheless, results were not related to the extent of the intestinal disease nor the degree of impairment of small intestinal function.