Drug Allergy and Pulmonary Disease (Present Status of Drug Allergy)

Many drugs may occasionally induce adverse reactions not only by allergic mechanism but also by intolerance or idiosyncracy. We investigated drug-induced pulmonary diseases in 3194 patients admitted in our clinic for the last 10 years. There were 15 cases (0.5%) with these disorders, including 13 of interstitial pneumonia and one of PIE syndrome, and 1 of bronchial asthma. On the otherhand, drug-induced asthma was recognized in 10 (6.5%) of 152 outpatients with asthma. All of them were caused to aspirin but one. The drugs producing interstitial pneumonia were antineoplastic agents in nine, gold in three, and hypotonica in one. Although all patients were treated with corticosteroid, four with gold or hypotonica induced pneumonia were considerably improved, and five with pneumonia caused by antineoplastic agents were died. Since the incidence of drug-induced pulmonary disease is not so frequent, cytotoxic drugs such as antineoplastic agents must be administrated carefully, in consideration with possibility of adverse reactions