Dress syndrome. A Clinical Case Report
Main Article Content
Keywords
Anticonvulsants, Drug hypersensitivity, Chemically induced
Abstract
Background: DRESS syndrome (Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms) or reaction to drugs with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms is a serious drug reaction associated with the use of aromatic anticonvulsants and allopurinol. At least 44 drugs have been associated with DRESS. The aim was to present the case of a patient with DRESS syndrome associated with phenytoin.
Clinical case: a 20 years old woman, with a history of seizures since childhood, presented generalised tonic-clonic seizures for the last three months. Therefore, she began treatment with 100 mg of phenytoin, administered orally, every 8 hours. Three weeks later, she developed fever up to 42 degrees, papules in the hands extending to trunk and extremities, generalized rubicund, pruritus, pain while urinating, adding hyperoxia, dysphagia and dry cough. Consequently, she went to the emergency room.
Discussion: the diagnosis is clinical and it is set according to the criteria of the scale of RegiSCAR. As the initial manifestations are unspecific, the diagnosis and treatment could be delayed. The importance of recognizing this syndrome is an early treatment to get better prognostics. The mortality is up to 10 %.
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