The NCI Drug Dictionary contains technical definitions and synonyms for drugs/agents used to treat patients with cancer or conditions related to cancer. Each drug entry includes links to check for clinical trials listed in NCI's List of Cancer Clinical Trials. The search textbox has an autosuggest feature.
Aldactone Description: Aldactone (spironolactone) is an antagonist of aldosterone and is pharmaceutically classified as a diuretic. It acts by competitively inhibiting aldosterone binding to receptor sites, especially in the renal tubes where aldosterone is involved in sodium-potassium exchange.
Question: What is spironolactone and is it a diuretic? Answer: Spironolactone is a medicine that is really old. It's been around for decades. And it is classified pharmacologically as a diuretic, even though its diuretic effect at the doses we use in heart failure are very low and really have very minimal diuretic effect on its own. It sometimes does seem to increase or augment the loop diuretic effect in some patients, but again this effect is fairly small.