FYI..Causes of Drug Induced Liver Failure | Arthritis Information

BOSTON -- Antimicrobial agents are the most common cause of drug-induced liver failure, with most cases ending in death or transplant, a researcher said here.

A prospective analysis of some 1,200 cases of acute liver failure found that half of those caused by drugs were associated with antituberculosis, antifungal, sulfa drugs, and other antibiotics, according to Adrian Reuben, MBBS, of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

Herbal supplements, anticonvulsants, and statins also were relatively common causes of drug-induced liver injury (DILI), Reuben told attendees here at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases' annual meeting.

Only 27% of DILI patients in acute liver failure recovered spontaneously, Reuben said. About 40% had successful transplants, while another 30% died either waiting for transplant or were too ill to be wait-listed.

Overall, 66% of patients with DILI-associated liver failure survived.

Reuben said this was the first study of DILI-associated liver failure and its outcomes to use prospectively collected data. Prior to this study, he said, everything known about severe DILI has come from retrospective case series.

The current study involved data collected at 23 centers participating in the Acute Liver Failure Study Group from 1998 to 2007, a total of 1,198 cases. These centers supplied detailed information for each case on prior drug use, presenting symptoms, laboratory findings, and outcomes.

Causality from drugs was determined on the basis of three separate expert reviews, which were combined to assign probability of DILI for each proposed case.

A total of 132 were ultimately identified as DILI, of which 107 were likely, 21 were probable, and four were possible. Acetaminophen reactions were excluded.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AASLD/16791
Lynn492009-11-05 05:03:25Acetaminophen is a huge problem as many people take OTC preparations without realizing how many of them contain this drug. This is interesting. I never thought antibiotics would be a big problem. About statins, everyone seems to be on them and the minute one has a bad ratio, they are put on these before a change in diet/lifestyle is attempted. Interesting study and Snow I agree with your statements. My husband is on a statin and because of the med. he thinks he can eat whatever he wants. It's a constant battle but slowly I'm winning. I'd like to see him off the drug but not sure it will happen. LindyMy husband has been on zocor for almost 10 years now, with no problems so far. He was put on it after his heart attack, which was his first warning sign that something was amiss. His cardiologist's philosophy is that, in the case of someone like my husband, he aggressively treats elevated cholesterol with a statin. He emphasizes that diet and exercise are still very important... but since DH has already dropped dead once we don't want to give him a chance to try that again. At the time of his heart attack, DH's cholesterol and blood lipids were at the high end of the normal range, yet he had a 100% blockage in one of the coronary arteries.

We've had a couple of scares since the heart attack, but luckily everything has been more-or-less OK. The cardiologist says that DH is now guilty until proven innocent and ANY cardiac blips, abnormal test results, etc get tested (and treated if necessary) quickly and aggressively. He won't survive a second heart attack.
Several years ago I tried one statin after another and a week into the medication I suddenly came down with EXTREME muscle weakness. I went from walking 1.7 miles in 25 minutes to .2 miles in the same amount of time. This happened on 4 different statins. My endocrinologist told me to get off them immediately and never take them again [in light that my LDL was only borderline and my HDL was great].

I hear of so many cases where drugs are pushed on people. People take statins and seem to think it gives them license to eat whatever they want. Same with Type II diabetics and their drugs.

The lesson I've learned is that the fewer drugs in the body, the fewer chances of drug interractions. Better to learn to eat right and exercise, which goes a long way towards eliminating statins, anti-diabetic drugs, blood pressure meds.......

Again.....my situation is different from those whose LDL levels are high or have critical health conditions.