[Drug induced liver disease: clinical and pathological patterns in 33 cases].
BACKGROUND
Drug induced liver disease (DILD) is common and of difficult diagnosis.


OBJECTIVE
To report the clinical, laboratory and pathological findings in 33 patients with DILD.


METHODS
We revised 1,164 liver biopsies and 57 were selected as suspicious of DILD. In these, the scale proposed by Maria et al was applied to assess the possibility of hepatotoxicity reactions and 33 were selected.


RESULTS
The 33 cases had a mean age of 48 +/- 18 years and 14 were male. Forty eight medications were involved, with an average of 1.4 drugs per patient. The main drugs were antimicrobials, antineoplastics-immunosuppressives and non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs. The clinical presentations in order of frequency were cholestasis, hepatitis, asymptomatic, fulminant hepatitis and cirrhosis. The laboratory alterations observed in cases with hepatitis were 20 fold transaminase and bilirubin elevation. In cholestasis, moderate elevations of alkaline phosphatases and gamma glytamyl transferase were observed. Pathology showed hepatocellular damage, cholestasis and mixed damage, but also submassive necrosis and cirrhosis in one case.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study confirms that DILD is frequently unpredictable and that it can cause a wide variety of clinical and pathological presentations, that can even evolve to chronicity.
Contreras
Jorge
J
Sección de Gastroenterología, Departamento de Medicina, Hospital Clínico de la Universidad de Chile, Santos Dumont 999, Independencia, Santiago.
Poniachik
Jaime
J
Planzer
Marcela
M
Lazarte
Raúl
R
Smok
Gladys
G
Oksenberg
Danny
D
Madrid
Ana María
AM
Brahm
Javier
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D056486:Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged