Question: What is agranulocytosis? Is it life threatneing?
Answer: Agranulocytosis is an acute condition involving a severe and dangerous leukopenia (reduction in the number of white blood cells) in the body.[1] The name literally means an increase of agranulocytes, but it is more commonly understood as a lack of granulocytes.[2] The term "granulocytopenia" is a near synonym.[3]
Question: what is agranulocytosis?
Answer: is an acute condition involving a severe and dangerous leukopenia (reduction in the number of white blood cells) in the body.
Question: how does isoniazid causes hematologic dysfunction? as per drug information about isoniazid, some of its adverse drug reactions is agranulocytosis, anemia, thrombocytopenia. how can it cause these hematologic dysfunctions?
Answer: GENERIC NAME: ISONIAZID ( INH)
BRAND NAME(S): Niazid
INH; Isonicotinic Acid Hydrazide
This medication is used to prevent and treat tuberculosis.
Rarely, this medication has caused severe (sometimes fatal) liver problems (e.g.,fatal hepatitis)
As with all drugs; it can cause enlargement of the liver or liver dysfunctions/problems. . This drug can cause hepatoxicity.
One of the main functions of the liver is clearance of waste products, drugs, and toxins. . In addition, the liver metabolizes most hormones and ingested drugs to either more or less active products.
Nearly all drugs are modified or degraded in the liver. In particular, oral drugs are absorbed by the gut and transported via the portal circulation to the liver. In the liver, drugs may undergo first-pass metabolism, a process in which they are modified, activated, or inactivated before they enter the systemic circulation, or they may be left unchanged.
Alcohol is primarily metabolized by the liver, and accumulation of its products can lead to cell injury and death.
In patients with liver disease, drug detoxification and excretion may be dangerously altered, resulting in drug concentrations that are too low or too high or the production of toxic drug metabolites. Therefore, medications that are metabolized by the liver must be used with caution in patients with hepatic disease; these patients may need lower doses of the drug.
Thus this drug may cause thrombocytopenia ( low platelet count) or agranulocytosis( low WBC count).and hemolysis or destruction of blood cells and low production of RBC ( RBC is produced in the liver ) resulting in anemia.
