1 May 2026Oral drugs
Furosemide oral
Furosemide guidance for edema associated with renal, hepatic, or congestive heart failure, with potassium and dehydration precautions.
Prescription under medical supervision
This guide page is for structured reference only and does not replace a clinician, pharmacist, or emergency review. Dose choice, route choice, interactions, and safety decisions still need professional judgment.
Therapeutic action
Loop diuretic.
Indications
Oedema associated with renal, hepatic or congestive heart failure.
Forms and strengths
- 20 mg and 40 mg tablets.
Dose
- Adult: start with 20 mg once daily. Increase, if necessary, according to clinical response up to 80 mg once daily or 2 times daily, maximum 160 mg daily.
- Once oedema decreases, reduce to 20 to 40 mg once daily.
Duration
According to clinical response.
Contra-indications, adverse effects, precautions
- Do not administer to patients with dehydration, severe hypokalaemia, or hyponatraemia.
- May cause dehydration, hypotension, hypokalaemia, hyponatraemia, hyperuricaemia, renal impairment, deafness, and photosensitivity.
- Avoid or monitor combination with NSAIDs, ACE inhibitors, ototoxic drugs, and lithium.
- Monitor combination with drugs that provoke hypotension, potassium-depleting drugs, sodium-depleting drugs, oral antidiabetics, and insulin.
- Pregnancy: administer only if clearly needed.
- Breast-feeding: contraindicated because it is excreted in milk and reduces milk production.
Source
MSF Essential drugs practical guidelines (January 2026)
This page reproduces the structured reference information for this batch while leaving out the Storage and Remarks sections.
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