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Leflunomide induced fatal dress syndrome need liver transplantation – A case report
1Department of Gastroenterology, Adiyaman University School of Medicine, Adiyaman, Turkiye;
2Department of Gastroenterology, Inonu University School of Medicine, Malatya, Turkiye
Hepatology Forum 2024; 5(4): 204-206 DOI: 10.14744/hf.2024.2024.0010 PMCID: PMC11440219
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Abstract

Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) syndrome is a severe, potentially life-threatening, drug-induced hypersensitivity reaction that involves hematological abnormalities (atypical lymphocytosis, eosinophilia), lymphadenopathy, skin eruption, and internal organ involvement (lung, liver, kidney). The 36-year-old female patient was followed by bloody diarrhea, diffuse skin rashes and hepatitis. She was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, and Leflunomide 20 mg was added to the treatment six weeks ago. Upon developing hepatic encephalopathy and deepening the fulminant liver failure during the follow-up, a living donor liver from her son was transplanted on the 4th day of hospitalization. The patient had deceased on the second day after liver transplantation due to multiple organ failures. In the literature, mortality in DRESS syndrome is mostly secondary to hepatic failure. Liver transplantation cannot be effective due to systemic involvement and recurrence in the transplanted liver.