Published: 7 September 2017
Publications
Gathering Knowledge from Adverse Reaction Reports: Sept 2017
Prescriber Update 38(3): 42
September 2017
Adverse reaction reporting is an important component of medicine safety monitoring. Case reports can highlight significant safety issues concerning therapeutic products and their use.
A selection of recent informative cases from the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM) database is presented below.
| CARM ID: 124149 Age: 68 Gender: Male Medicine(s): Doxazosin Reaction(s): Priapism |
The patient experienced unwanted, long-lasting painful erections at night. The Apo-Doxazosin data sheet (www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/Datasheet/a/ApoDoxazosintab.pdf) states isolated cases of priapism have been reported to be associated with alpha-1-agonists, including doxazosin. |
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| CARM ID: 123972 Age: 62 Gender: Male Medicine(s): Aspirin, ibuprofen Reaction(s): Blood clot, Drug interaction |
The patient was taking regular ibuprofen with enteric coated aspirin and experienced a blood clot. The data sheet for Ibugesic (www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/Datasheet/i/ibugesictab.pdf) states ibuprofen antagonises the irreversible inhibition of platelet COX-1 induced by low dose aspirin (ie, ibuprofen inhibits the anti-platelet effect of aspirin). |
| CARM ID: 119749 Age: 37 Gender: Female Medicine(s): Venlafaxine Reaction(s): Hypertension |
The patient developed hypertension during pregnancy that required treatment with labetalol. Hypertension is a common adverse reaction to venlafaxine. The Efexor-XR data sheet (www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/Datasheet/e/Efexorxrcap.pdf) states caution should be exercised in patients whose underlying conditions might be compromised by increases in blood pressure. |
