Pulmonary toxicity with gold therapy

✍ Scribed by Terry E. Podell; James R. Klinenberg; Louis S. Kramer; Harvey V. Brown

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1980
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 362 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780230314

✦ Synopsis

Several adverse reactions are seen with gold therapy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Approximately 80% of such reactions are inconsequential, consisting of pruritis, rash, stomatitis, eosinophilia, and mild proteinuria (1,2). Nitritoid reactions are also frequent with the thiomalate preparation and usually occur early in the course of treatment. More severe reactions include thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, pancytopenia, nephrotic syndrome, and exfoliative dermatitis. In addition, cholestatic jaundice (3), enterocolitis, corneal chrysiasis, and peripheral neuropathy have been reported. It is not clear that any of the adverse effects are dose related (43). Recently, several cases of diffuse pulmonary injury associated with gold therapy have been reported. We report here an additional case of this severe but reversible condition.