Drug and herbal/dietary supplements-induced liver injury: A tertiary care center experience

Ayesha S Siddique; Osama Siddique; Michael Einstein; Eva Urtasun-Sotil; Saverio Ligato

doi:10.4254/wjh.v12.i5.207

Drug and herbal/dietary supplements-induced liver injury: A tertiary care center experience

World J Hepatol. 2020 May 27;12(5):207-219. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v12.i5.207.

Authors

Ayesha S Siddique¹, Osama Siddique², Michael Einstein², Eva Urtasun-Sotil², Saverio Ligato³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT 06102, United States. ayesha.siddique@hhchealth.org.
² Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Hartford Hospital, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT 06102, United States.
³ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT 06102, United States.

Abstract

Background: Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) and herbal/dietary supplements (HDS) related liver injury present unique diagnostic challenges. Collaboration between the clinician and the pathologist is required for an accurate diagnosis and management.

Aim: To report our experience on the clinical-pathological findings of hepatic injury caused by drugs/HDS.

Methods: A retrospective review of clinically proven cases of DILI/HDS who presented to our institution from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017 was performed. Slides were reviewed for histopathological patterns of injury and correlated with the causative agent. Out of 600 patients presenting with unexplained rise in liver enzymes undergoing biopsy, 107 were suspected to have DILI/HDS. Of these, 53 had a directly linked exposure to drug/herbal supplements. Fifteen patients were excluded for concurrent known liver disease. Thirty-eight patients with clinically proven DILI/HDS were finally included.

Results: Thirty-eight cases of DILI/HDS with a male:female of 1:1.5 and mean age of 51 ± 3 years were identified. DILI was identified in 84.2% cases while HDS injury in 15.8%. Acute hepatitis (42.1%) was the most common pattern of injury while granulomatous hepatitis (2.6%) was the least common. We found one case of acute-cholestasis due to rivaroxaban and two cases of cholestatic-hepatitis due to rizatriptan and trimethobenzamide-hydrochloride that, to the best of our knowledge, have not been previously reported. One case of steatohepatitis due to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and three unusual cases of cholestatic-hepatitis with bile duct injury and steatosis due to dronedarone, C4-Extreme and hydroxycut, were also seen. Of our cohort, 81.6% of the patients fared well with discontinuation of drug and 18.4% underwent transplant; of which 42.9% were deceased.

Conclusion: We describe the clinical findings, histopathological patterns of injury and clinical outcomes caused by drugs. In particular, we report a few previously unreported/ rarely observed clinical and histopathological patterns of hepatic injury.

Keywords: Biopsy; Dietary supplements; Drug-induced liver injury; Herbals; Liver enzymes; Supplements.