2018 Volume 40 Issue 5 Pages 459-463
Background. Eltrombopag is used as a treatment of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), and is a thrombopoietin receptor agonist. On the other hand, few reports are available on drug-induced lung injury following eltrombopag. Case. An 84-year-old man with a history of interstitial pneumonia and ITP had been treated with eltrombopag since September 2016. In October, he was hospitalized becaused of dyspnea. A chest computed tomography (CT) scan showed diffuse ground-glass opacities in both lungs and blood test showed increased KL-6 (2362 U/ml). We suspected acute exacerbation of interstitial lung disease, and performed bronchoscopy. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) analysis showed increase in lymphocyte counts (71.4%), and a drug-induced lymphocyte stimulation test (DLST) for eltrombopag showed positive results (max S.I. 210%). Finally, we diagnosed possible drug-induced lung injury caused by eltrombopag. We discontinued eltrombopag, and obtained a good response to steroid therapy. Conclusions. We report a case of possible drug-induced lung injury caused by eltrombopag.
