A survey of drug interaction.

A survey is presented of the interaction phenomena between two or more simultaneously used drugs. The well known mechanisms of drug interaction, like chemical incompatibility, displacement of protein binding, enzyme induction, etc., are summarized and illustrated by means of practically relevant examples. Attention is paid to the fact that drug interaction can sometimes be advantageous from the clinical point of view, although in many cases it is an unwanted phenomenon in practical pharmacotherapy. Furthermore, the predictability and detection of interaction phenomena are mentioned briefly, together with the possibilities of distributing appropriate information to physicians and pharmacists.