Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms (DRESS):A Review of 21 Cases over 7 years Period from Selayang Hospital

ABSTRACT

Introduction: DRESS is an uncommon severe cutaneous adverse drug reaction, which is under recognized. In this review, we aim to study the clinical characteristics of patients with DRESS that presented to our hospital. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis on the data of all the patients with DRESS from January 2006 to December 2012 in Selayang Hospital. Results: Twenty-one patients were included with median age of 33 and male to female ratio of 11. Allopurinol was the most frequent causative drug followed by anti-tuberculous drugs. The mean latency period was 28.6 days. All patients had macula-papular rash of which 6 progressed to erythroderma. Liver was the most frequent extra cutaneous organ involvement with median peak alanine transaminase of 746 iu/l, (range 45-3677) and median peak aspartate transaminase of 632 iu/l (range 30-3136). Six patients (28.5%) had acute liver failure. The mainstay of treatment was systemic corticosteroid. Mortality rate was 23.8%. Conclusion: DRESS is a severe cutaneous adverse drug reaction with a myriad of clinical presentation and is associated with mortality. Our series has higher mortality compared to most other reported studies, most probably due to referral bias. Early recognition is crucial.