Amiodarone Rifampicin Drug-Drug Interaction Management With Therapeutic Drug Monitoring.

The authors present a case of a 69-year-old man with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy controlled with amiodarone and an infected orthopedic prosthesis requiring treatment with rifampicin. This combination involves a pharmacokinetic drug-drug interaction leading to subtherapeutic drug concentrations of amiodarone and its active metabolite. The long half-life of amiodarone and its active metabolite in combination with the late onset and offset of cytochrome P4503A (CYP3A4) induction by rifampicin makes this a challenging drug-drug interaction to cope with in clinical practice. Before, during, and after rifampicin treatment, the serum concentrations of amiodarone and its active metabolite were measured and the amiodarone dose was adjusted accordingly. The amiodarone dose required to maintain effective concentrations was 450% of the initial dose. The drug-drug interaction between amiodarone and rifampicin is relevant, both clinically and pharmacokinetically, and can be managed by dose adjustments of amiodarone based on serum concentrations.

[Myocardial Infarction and resuscitation of an adolescent: consequences of an unexplained disease]. / Myocardinfarct en reanimatie bij een adolescent.

BACKGROUND: Morbus Kawasaki is defined by unexplained fever combined with at least 4 out of 5 classic symptoms: bilateral conjunctivitis, polymorphic exanthema, strawberry tongue and red swollen lips, extremity changes and cervical lymphadenopathy. However, these symptoms do not always occur completely or simultaneously. CASE DESCRIPTION: An 18-year old man was admitted after an out of hospital cardiac arrest caused by an occluded aneurysmatic LAD, which was treated with a percutanious coronary intervention. Coronary angiogram however also revealed coronary aneurysms of all coronaries, identifying an episode of unexplained fever and vasculitis 4 years prior as Morbus Kawasaki. CONCLUSION: Echocardiogram, CTA and MRA can reveal coronary malformations and thus identify M. Kawasaki when there is an incomplete M. Kawasaki. An early diagnosis and treatment with high dose aspirin and intravenous immunoglobulines is essential to reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications later in life.