home > drugs a-z list > lotensin hct (benazepril hcl and hctz) drug center > lotensin hct (benazepril hcl and hctz) drug - overdosage and contraindications

No specific information is available on the treatment of overdosage with Lotensin HCT; treatment should be symptomatic and supportive. Therapy with Lotensin HCT should be discontinued, and the patient should be observed. Dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, and hypotension should be treated by established procedures.

Single oral doses of 1 g/kg of benazepril caused reduced activity in mice, and doses of 3 g/kg were associated with significant lethality. Reduction of activity in rats was not seen until they had received doses of 5 g/kg, and doses of 6 g/kg were not lethal. In single-dose studies of hydrochlorothiazide, most rats survived doses up to 2.75 g/kg.

Data from human overdoses of benazepril are scanty, but the most common manifestation of human benazepril overdosage is likely to be hypotension. In human hydrochlorothiazide overdose, the most common signs and symptoms observed have been those of dehydration and electrolyte depletion (hypokalemia, hypochloremia, hyponatremia). If digitalis has also been administered, hypokalemia may accentuate cardiac arrhythmias.

Laboratory determinations of serum levels of benazepril and its metabolites are not widely available, and such determinations have, in any event, no established role in the management of benazepril overdose.

No data are available to suggest physiological maneuvers (e.g., maneuvers to change the pH of the urine) that might accelerate elimination of benazepril and its metabolites. Benazeprilat is only slightly dialyzable, but dialysis might be considered in overdosed patients with severely impaired renal function (see WARNINGS).

Angiotensin II could presumably serve as a specific antagonist-antidote in the setting of benazepril overdose, but angiotensin II is essentially unavailable outside of scattered research facilities. Because the hypotensive effect of benazepril is achieved through vasodilation and effective hypovolemia, it is reasonable to treat benazepril overdose by infusion of normal saline solution.

Lotensin HCT is contraindicated in patients who are anuric.

Lotensin HCT is also contraindicated in patients who are hypersensitive to benazepril, to any other ACE inhibitor, to hydrochlorothiazide, or to other sulfonamide-derived drugs. Hypersensitivity reactions are more likely to occur in patients with a history of allergy or bronchial asthma.

Lotensin HCT is also contraindicated in patients with a history of angioedema with or without previous ACE inhibitor treatment.

Last reviewed on RxList: 1/27/2012
This monograph has been modified to include the generic and brand name in many instances.