Angioedema following the intravenous administration of metoprolol

Clinical Features and Disease Course of Primary Angioedema Patients in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Purpose

To give a better understanding of primary AE, the clinical characteristics and the possible therapeutic approaches.

Background

Angioedema (AE) is a non-pitting, non-itching swelling of skin or mucosa. The symptom can become life-threatening if located in the airways. Primary (monosymptomatic) AE is a manifestation of several different diseases and the diagnosis is not always straight-forward. The aetiological and pathophysiological factors of primary AE are not completely clarified. There is a need for further investigation.

Patients and Methods

This was a retrospective cohort study of patients referred to an outpatient dermatology clinic in a tertiary care hospital for clinical assessment due to primary AE in the period from 1996 to 2014.

Results

A total of 315 patients were identified with primary AE. The most frequent subtype was idiopathic AE (42.5%) and the second most common was angiotensin-converting enzymeinhibitor (ACEi)-induced AE (31.1%). Three patients were diagnosed with hereditary AE and one patient was diagnosed with acquired C1-inhibitor deficiency. At least 107 (34.0%) patients had established histaminergic AE. More than 1/3 of the patients were treated in an emergency room or hospitalized due to AE. A 98.1% of patients had experienced AE in the head and neck area. Seven patients were in the need of acute airway intervention. Six of these had ACEi-induced AE. Female sex and smoking were found to be risk factors for developing AE.

Conclusion

The most frequent diagnoses were histaminergic-, non-histaminergic idiopathic AE and ACEi-induced AE, whereas complement C1-inhibitor deficiency was rare. Histaminergic AE made up a substantial group of patients with primary AE. Even though there are different pathophysiological causes of AE, many cases have overlapping clinical manifestations, which make diagnosis and treatment difficult.

Oedema, solid organ transplantation and mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor/proliferation signal inhibitors (mTOR-I/PSIs)

Mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor (mTOR-I)/proliferation signal inhibitors (PSI) including sirolimus and everolimus represent a new class of drugs increasingly used in solid-organ transplantation as alternatives to calcineurin inhibitors for patients with renal dysfunction, transplant coronary arterial vasculopathy or malignancy. The most frequently occurring mTOR-I/PSI-related adverse events are similar to those associated with other immunosuppressive therapies, but some side effects are more characteristic of proliferation signal inhibitors (e.g. lymphocele, arthralgia, oedema and hyperlipidaemia). The present paper review incidence, clinical presentation and mechanism of oedema within the clinical experience of mTOR-I/PSI in solid organ transplantation.

Recent advances in drug-induced angioedema

Angioedema is the end result of deep dermal, subcutaneous and/or mucosal swelling, and is potentially a life-threatening condition in cases where the pharynx or larynx is involved. Drug-induced angioedema has been reported to occur in response to a wide range of drugs and vaccines. Drug-induced angioedema, like other cutaneous drug reactions, has been reported to be most frequently elicited by beta-lactam antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, although reliable data from epidemiologic studies are scarce. Recent reports suggested an increasing role of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) in the causation of life-threatening angioedema. ACEI-related angioedema is never accompanied by urticaria and occurs via a kinin-dependent mechanism. ACEI-related angioedema not only can start years after beginning the treatment, but it can then recur irregularly while under that treatment. Furthermore, allergy tests are unreliable for the diagnosis of ACEI-related angioedema, and so the relationship between angioedema and ACEIs is often missed and consequently quite underestimated. Accordingly, better understanding of the kinin-dependent mechanism, which is particular to angioedema, is necessary for the appropriate management of drug-induced angioedema.

Drug-induced angioedema without urticaria: prevalence and clinical features

BACKGROUND

Angioedema without urticaria can be caused by drugs. The purpose of our study was to assess the prevalence and clinical features of patients with drug-induced angioedema without urticaria.

METHODS

This study retrospectively reviewed case records at Siriraj Hospital, between January 2007 and December 2008. Patients aged at least 15 years were included.

RESULTS

The prevalence of drug-induced angioedema without urticaria among patients with adverse drug reactions was 2.3%/year. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) were the most common cause (50%), followed by antibiotics (20%). The commonest NSAID which induced angioedema were ibuprofen and diclofenac. The common sites were periorbital area (67.3%) and lips (27.6%). The median duration of suspected drug therapy before the development of angioedema was 1 day with the range of 10 min to 23 days.

CONCLUSIONS

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics were the most common drugs causing angioedema without urticaria. The duration of onset ranged from minutes to days. After stopping the suspected drugs, symptoms disappeared within 2-5 days in most patients.

Angio-œdèmes iatrogènes: rôle des inhibiteurs de l'enzyme de conversion et des antagonistes des récepteurs à l'angiotensine II (sartans)

Nephrologists should be aware the fact that the angioedema is a common side effect not only under angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors treatment but also under sartans therapy. The frequency of angioedema under ACE inhibitors is estimated at 1 to 7 per thousand. The physiopathology of ACE angioedema implicates the lack of degradation of kinines due to the inhibition of multiple enzymes activity including ACE. Angioedema under sartans seems less frequent than this observed under ACE inhibitors. Its mechanism remains poorly defined, but implicates the increase of kinine production via the stimulation of angiotensin receptor type II, and/or the lack of degradation of kinines via multiple enzymes other than ACE. The frequency of the apparition of angioedema under sartans in patients who had have angioedema under ACE inhibitors is inconsistent and varied from 7.7% to 50%. Reports indicated that angioedema under ACE or sartans could have a spontaneous regression. However, the relapse of angioedema under these drugs should lead to the diagnosis of iatrogenic etiology, and to the drugs withdrawal. ACE inhibitors/Sartans-associated angioedema episodes need to be reported to the French Adverse Event Reporting System database to evaluate their frequency and to avoid severe consequences.

Angioedema in Renal Transplant Recipients on Sirolimus

BACKGROUND

Most drug-associated angioedemas are induced by angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor antagonists, or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Recently, the responsibility of immunosuppressive agents given to transplant recipients in the development of angioedema has been discussed.

OBJECTIVE

To describe, in detail, angioedema episodes in renal transplant recipients (RTRs) on sirolimus.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study in a university hospital. Eighty consecutive RTRs on sirolimus were studied.

RESULTS

Angioedema without urticaria occurred a mean of 5 times in 12/80 (15%) RTRs taking sirolimus. It was predominantly located on the face (83%), with mucous membrane involvement in 7 (58%) patients, and was life threatening in 1. Another putative cofactor for angioedema without urticaria was identified in 9 (75%) patients: drugs (n=8), food allergy or physical activity (n=3). Tacrolimus intake was significantly associated with sirolimus-associated angioedema.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggested a causal relationship between sirolimus and angioedema in RTRs.

Drug-induced angioedema without urticaria

Angioedema without urticaria is a clinical syndrome characterised by self-limiting local swellings involving the deeper cutaneous and mucosa tissue layers. Most occurrences of angioedema respond to treatment with a histamine H1 receptor blocker (antihistamine) because they are an allergic or parallergic reaction. A small number of cases do not respond to antihistamine treatment. Such cases tend to occur in patients with deficiency or dysfunction of the inhibitor of the first component of the complement (C1-INH), but more rarely can occur in patients with other conditions and as an adverse drug reaction. Angioedema is well documented in patients taking ACE inhibitors. Considering that 35 to 40 million patients are treated worldwide with ACE inhibitors, this drug class could account for several hundred deaths per year from laryngeal oedema. ACE inhibitors certainly do not mediate angioedema through an allergic or idiosyncratic reaction. For this reason the relationship with this drug is often missed and consequently quite underestimated. Rare instances of angioedema have also been reported with angiotensin II receptor antagonists. This adverse effect seems to occur less frequently with angiotensin II receptor antagonists than with ACE inhibitors. However, we do not know whether this adverse effect has the same mechanism with the 2 classes of medications. Some cases of severe angioedema have been recently reported after treatment with fibrinolytic agents. Scattered reports suggest the possibility of angioedema associated with the use of estrogens, antihypertensive drugs other than ACE inhibitors, and psychotropic drugs. Angioedema can also occur with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Prevention of angioedema relies first on the patient history. Estrogen and ACE inhibitors should be avoided in a patient with congenital or acquired C1-INH deficiency. In the case of ACE inhibitors, the appearance of angioedema following long term treatment does not lessen the probability that such an agent could be the cause. The most important action to take in a patient with suspected drug-induced angioedema is to discontinue the pharmacological agent. Epinephrine (adrenaline), diphenydramine and intravenous methylprednisolone have been proposed for the medical management of airway obstruction, but so far no controlled studies have demonstrated their efficacy. If the acute airway obstruction leads to life-threatening respiratory compromise an emergency cricothyroidotomy must be performed.