title: A case of acute pulmonary thromboembolism after taking tadalafil.
abstract: Tadalafil is a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor (PDE5I), which is widely used to treat erectile dysfunction. Although PDE5Is have excellent safety profiles, and most of the side effects are mild, rare serious adverse events have been reported in association with PDE5Is. Thrombosis is one of those events, and a few previous reports have suggested the association of PDE5Is with thrombosis. We report the case of a 61-year-old male who developed pulmonary embolism combined with pulmonary infarction directly after taking tadalafil. Both the patient and the physician suspected tadalafil as the culprit drug, as the patient was in an otherwise healthy condition. However, after extensive evaluation, we noticed that factor VIII levels were elevated. Prior reports suggesting the association between thrombosis and PDEIs either lack complete information on coagulation factors, or show inconsistencies in their results. Physicians should operate caution prior to accepting the diagnosis of adverse drug reaction.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Lung Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jinwoo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ji Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Chang-Hoon
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sang-Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jae-Joon
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Yim
authors.forename: Chuy-Gyu
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Young Whan
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sung Koo
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Young Sik
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Park