Amiodarone-related pneumonitis and peripheral neuropathy in an elderly patient

Abstract

Amiodarone, which has been used since 1967 as an antiarrhythmic drug, gives rise to a variety of cardiac and extracardiac adverse side-effects. Among these, pulmonary toxicity is considered the most frequent and serious extracardiac side-effect, since it may occur in various atypical forms and often limits the drug's clinical use. We encountered a 67-year-old white male patient with suspected amiodarone pneumonitis characterized by multiple lung nodules associated with pleural and pericardial effusion and peripheral neuropathy. Because differential diagnosis with pulmonary infectious diseases may be extremely difficult, the attending physician should therefore bear in mind the possibility of amiodarone pneumonitis whenever the drug is given.

Amiodarone-induced loculated pleural effusion without pulmonary parenchymal involvement: A case report and literature review

“…[ 8 ] Since then, nine further cases have been reported. [ 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ] Most of the patients developed pleural effusions after approximately 6 months of therapy. However, it was reported to occur as early as 2.5 months and as late as 6 years after amiodarone initiation.…”

Incidental Ultrastructural Findings in the Sural Nerve and Dorsal Root Ganglion of Aged Control Sprague Dawley Rats in a Nonclinical Carcinogenicity Study

“…Numerous medications can cause, or are suspected to cause, damage to the PNS. These include medications used to treat heart arrhythmias, 4 bacterial infections, 5,6 retroviral infections, [7][8][9][10][11] cancer, [12][13][14] high blood pressure, 15 autoimmune disorders, 16 epilepsy, 17 high cholesterol, 18,19 alcohol addiction, 20 and vitamin over-/undersupplementation. 21,22 As would be expected, there is no commonality between the structure and/or the mechanism of action between these varied therapeutic agents.…”