Abstract
Having a specialist knowledge of the practice of pharmacy in the clinical setting, clinical pharmacists are key members of the patient care team. They also play a very important role by acting as drug consultants to doctors and providing information on drugs to patients.
The target of our study in this regard was the administration of the α-glucosidase inhibitor acarbose which offers a novel approach in the treatment of disbetes mellitus. Increased flatulence, a recognized adverse reaction of acarbose, is very unpleasant for patients and causes them discomfort. Further, many other disgestive tract-related adverse reactions are known and acerbose has also been reported to cause severe hepatic disease. In the case presented here, we observed that the alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level steadily increased after the administration of acarbose and that all laboratory tests produced negative results at 40 days after administration.
The above findings suggest that the clinical pharmacist should monitor parameters to prevent acarbose-induced hepatic injury. Our results also show that the period of increased flatulence due to acarbose could be significantly shortened through such monitoring, and we were thus able to provide patients with useful information concerning the drug acarbose.
In conclusion, consultations between doctors and clinical pharmacists are necessary for improving the effectiveness of clinical pharmacy practice.
