ITTLE is known about the reduced glutathione ( GSH ) content of leukocytes in leukopenic states. Parker and Kracke1 found a decrease in GSH of whole blood in rabbits made leukopenic and anemic by benzol. Similar data were reported by Kuzell et al.2 in a patient with agranulocytosis and anemia which followed treatment with phenylbutazone. Inasmuch as GSH is completely intracellular, it is not ce...

Agranulocytosis is a life-threatening disorder in any age and also in the elderly subjects who are receiving on the average a larger number of drugs than younger subjects. This disorder frequently occurs as an adverse reaction to drugs, particularly to antibiotics, antiplatelet agents, antithyroid drugs, neuroleptics or anti-epileptic agents and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents. Although p...

The use of indomethacin is associated with a relatively high incidence of adverse reactions such as agranulocytosis. Many other drugs associated with agranulocytosis are metabolized to reactive metabolites by activated neutrophils. Therefore, we studied the oxidation of indomethacin and its metabolites by activated neutrophils, myeloperoxidase (MPO) (the major oxidizing enzyme in neutrophils), ...

Clozapine is a highly effective antipsychotic medication, which provides a range of significant benefits for patients with schizophrenia, and is the standard of care for treatment-resistant schizophrenia as well as for reducing the risk of suicidal behaviors in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. However, clozapine is widely underutilized, largely because prescribing clinicians lack exp...

This case report describes the successful use of granulocyte and macrophage colony-stimulating factor as salvage therapy and an alternative to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in a 14-year-old adolescent with metamizole (dipyrone)-induced agranulocytosis and severe septic shock.

INTRODUCTION Afebrile neutropenia with an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of zero in a nonimmunocompromised individual is unusual. Outlined is a case of agranulocytosis likely due to levamisole laced cocaine. Given recent publications in the news media and medical journals, this is a pertinent issue for primary care providers. CASE A 57-year-old female presented with painful bowel movements a...

In the era of personalized medical practice, understanding the genetic basis of patient-specific adverse drug reaction (ADR) is a major challenge. Clozapine provides effective treatments for schizophrenia but its usage is limited because of life-threatening agranulocytosis. A recent high impact study showed the necessity of moving clozapine to a first line drug, thus identifying the biomarkers ...

PURPOSE Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) play an important role in multimodal pain management. In patients with a contraindication for NSAIDs, pain management is challenging. A recent Dutch anesthesiology guideline propagates the use of metamizole (dipyrone) in these patients. Metamizole is a controversial drug, its use being previously discouraged because of the risk for agranuloc...

An investigation of the relationships between physicochemical features of ten antipsychotic drugs and previously reported influence of these drugs on neutrophil maturity was made. A quantitative structure-activity relations (QSAR) approach was adopted, in which several numerical parameters describing physicochemical characteristics of the antipsychotics were estimated. Possible connections betw...