A free
source of evidence-based information for health care
professionals and for researchers studying liver
injury associated with prescription and
over-the-counter drugs, herbals, and dietary
supplements is now available from the National
Institutes of Health. Researchers and health care
professionals can use the LiverTox database to
identify basic and clinical research questions to be
answered and to chart optimal ways to diagnose and
control drug-induced liver injury.
Drug-induced liver
injury is the leading cause of acute liver failure
in the United States, accounting for at least half
of cases. It occurs at all ages, in men and women,
and in all races and ethnic groups. Drug-induced
liver disease is more likely to occur among older
adults because they tend to take more medications
than younger people. Some drugs directly damage the
liver, while others cause damage indirectly or by an
allergic reaction.
The most important element to managing drug-induced
liver injury is to identify the drug that’s causing
the problem and appropriate steps to eliminate or
reduce damage to the liver.
"Because drug-induced
liver disease is not a single, common disease, it is
very difficult to diagnose, with each drug causing a
somewhat different pattern of liver damage," said
Jay H. Hoofnagle, M.D., the major creator of
LiverTox and director of the Liver Disease Research
Branch at NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and
Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). "Doctors have
to rule out all other causes of liver disease before
saying that a patient has drug-induced injury
liver."
LiverTox has a
searchable database of about 700 medications
available in the United States by prescription or
over the counter. Over the next few years, another
300 drugs will be added. The database offers these
features:
-
An overview of drug-induced liver injury,
including diagnostic criteria, the role of liver
biopsy, descriptions of different clinical
patterns and standard definitions.
-
A
detailed report of each drug, including
background, case study, product package insert,
chemical makeup and structure, dose
recommendations and references with links.
-
An interactive section, allowing users to report
cases of drug-induced liver injury to the
LiverTox website. Reports will be automatically
forwarded to the Food and Drug Administration's
(FDA) MedWatch program. MedWatch allows the
public and health care professionals to report
adverse events, product defects, or product use
errors. The FDA uses the information to monitor
product safety.
"LiverTox is the result of a significant scientific
collaboration between the national and international
clinical and research communities, the NIDDK and the
National Library of Medicine (NLM)," said Steven
Phillips, M.D., co-sponsor of LiverTox and director
of NLM’s Division of Specialized Information
Services. "LiverTox demonstrates the importance of
using informatics to provide easy access to
evidenced-based information to clinicians and
researchers that will improve the health and
well-being of all and help prevent unnecessary
morbidity and mortality, worldwide. I hope the
dynamic LiverTox model can be used to create a new
suite of databases that can identify drug-induced
injury to other organs such as the heart, kidney,
and lung. The National Library of Medicine is
honored to be part of this significant scientific
endeavor."
The
developers of LiverTox worked with outside experts
in drug-induced liver disease as well as specialists
in arthritis, cancer, diabetes, infectious diseases,
and other conditions. The content of each section of
the database has been reviewed by an outside expert.
The finished website has also been reviewed by FDA
and pharmaceutical industry experts on liver-related
complications.
"By
integrating data that tends to be scattered across
the published literature into a single, readily
accessible place, we hope to bring greater focus and
interest to the study of drug-induced liver injury,
and to guide doctors involved with patient care and
ultimately, reduce liver injury and improve the
health of people," said Hoofnagle.
The
database will be updated regularly with information
about drug-induced liver injury as well as new drugs
and new concepts.
LiverTox welcomes input and comments from users
through the website at
www.livertox.nih.gov
For
more informations
http://www.nih.gov
(MDN)
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