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Q: My heart doctor has been treating me with amiodarone for a heart rhythm disturbance. I am worried because he told me that this medicine can affect my lungs. Is this true and, if so, what should I be doing to try to prevent it?
A: Amiodarone is one of the medications employed in the treatment of heart rhythm disturbances. Its side effects are somewhat depending on the dose taken. In fact, for higher doses, detrimental effects of this medication can occur in a large number of patients. In particular, lung damage can occur in about 1 to 15% of patients receiving this medication, but it occurs less frequently in patients receiving less than 300 milligrams per day.
The presenting symptoms of lung damage cause by amiodarone are usually cough and shortness of breath, together with changes in the chest X ray and an abnormal lung exam. It is very important to detect this condition early, since this process is reversible when found in the beginning stages. On the other hand, up to about 10% of the patients may die as a result of this condition if not detected in the early stages. Thus, the best thing to do to try to detect lung damage in its earliest stages when taking this medication is to obtain chest x rays and pulmonary function tests ( to study lung function and gas exchange between lungs and blood) every 6 months, since these tests may become abnormal even in the absence of presenting symptoms. In case abnormalities are found in these tests which were not previously present before the medication was started, amiodarone should then be propmptly discontinued and replaced with another medication.
Updated: 03/07/99
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