Abstract

TEJADA CIFUENTES, Francisco. Drug-induced hepatotoxicity. Rev Clin Med Fam [online]. 2010, vol.3, n.3, pp.177-191. ISSN 2386-8201.

Liver injury caused by medicines, recreational drugs, or non-standardized medical remedies (such as herbal products) is becoming a serious public health problem that affects patients, physicians, the pharmaceutical industry, and government regulators. Drug induced liver injury is the most common cause of death from acute liver failure and accounts for approximately 10% of cases of acute liver failure worldwide. Hepatotoxicity is the most frequent adverse drug event leading to abandonment of otherwise promising new drug candidates during the preclinical or clinical development stage, failure of drugs to obtain marketing authorisation approval by the regulatory agencies, and recall or restriction of prescription drugs after initial approval. The bulk of information is derived from the cases reported to the regulatory agencies by the spontaneous reporting system (yellow card) and those published in medical journals, but this is very probably only "the tip of the iceberg". The recognition and diagnosis of hepatotoxicity are often difficult and delayed due to the need to exclude more common competing causes of liver injury.

Keywords : Drug Toxicity; Liver Diseases; Drug-Induced Liver Injury.

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