Sodium valproate as a cause of recurrent transudative pleural effusion: a case report

There are few reported cases of neutrophilic pleural effusions associated with valproic acid therapy. Most of them are of eosinophilic exudates with or without blood eosinophilia. This case study describes a 70-year-old man with recurrent episodes of eosinophilic transudative pleural effusions assoc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of medical case reports Vol. 3; no. 1; p. 51
Main Authors Tryfon, Stavros, Saroglou, Maria, Kazanas, Kosmas, Mermigkis, Charalambos, Psathakis, Kostas, Galanis, Nikolaos
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England BioMed Central Ltd 09.02.2009
BioMed Central
BMC
Subjects
Care and treatment
Case report
Case studies
Complications and side effects
CT imaging
Diagnosis
Divalproex
Pleural effusions
Risk factors
Valproic acid
Greece
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Summary:There are few reported cases of neutrophilic pleural effusions associated with valproic acid therapy. Most of them are of eosinophilic exudates with or without blood eosinophilia. This case study describes a 70-year-old man with recurrent episodes of eosinophilic transudative pleural effusions associated with sodium valproate treatment. The recurrence of effusion after re-administration of the drug is strongly suggestive of an association between them. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case with a pleural effusion with these characteristics caused by sodium valproate. This is the first report in the literature, with a full understanding of the etiology but with an unknown drug mechanism. This case report is of interest to different medical specialists (such as pulmonologists, neurologists, cardiologists) and pharmacologists.
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ISSN:1752-1947
1752-1947
DOI:10.1186/1752-1947-3-51