FREQUENCY OF ANTI-TUBERCULOUS THERAPY-INDUCED HEPATOTOXICITY IN PATIENTS AND THEIR OUTCOME

Authors

  • Sumbal Tariq
  • Tahir Saleem Khan
  • Saqib Malik
  • M. Shamim Anwar
  • Abdul Rashid

Abstract

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a very common droplet infection especially in the northernareas. If untreated, the disease may be fatal within 5 years in more than half of cases. To study thefrequency of anti-tuberculous therapy (ATT) induced hepato-toxicity was the subject of thepresent hospital based descriptive study. Method: The study was conducted in Medical Unit,Ayub Teaching Hospital and patients with diagnosed Tuberculosis in whom ATT was initiatedwere included in the study. The subsequent development of elevated liver enzyme levels andhepatitis, amongst some members of the study group; was diagnosed, with the help of clinicalfindings and Liver Function Tests (LFT’s) and were dealt with according to severity. Results: Outof the 500 patients studied 277 (55.4%) were male and 223 (44.6%) were female, 203 (40.5%)were in age group 21–35 years, 136 (27.1%) in age group 36–50 years, 141 (28.1%) in age group51–65 years while 20 (4%) were above 65 years of age. Out of them 40 (8%) developed hepatotoxicity, 21 (4.2%) patients amongst the study group developed overt hepatitis, 20 (4%) of themmade an uneventful recovery while 1 (0.2%) died of Fulminant Hepatic Failure (FHF).Conclusions: ATT-induced hepato-toxicity, was frequently encountered in patients put on ATT.Keywords: Tuberculosis (TB), Anti-Tuberculous Therapy (ATT), Fulminant Hepatic Failure (FHF),Multi Drug Resistant (MDR), Liver Function Tests (LFT's).

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Published

2009-12-01

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