Pill for Thyroid Disease Pill Linked to Deadly Liver Failure in Children
A drug for treatment of an overactive thyroid called Graves’ disease should not be given to young children since it may result in fatal liver failure requiring an organ transplant, doctors say.
Propylthiouracil is often one of the first drugs given to treat children with Graves’ disease. Another drug called methimazole, surgery, and radioactive iodine also are treatment options for young people with the thyroid disease.
However, reports have long linked the use of propylthiouracil in children to liver failure, say two prominent physicians who are researching the risks.
Dr. Donald R. Mattison of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and Dr. Scott A. Rivkees of Yale University School of Medicine estimate that as many as five to 10 children die each year due to liver damage caused by propylthiouracil.
The doctors, in a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine, urge all physicians to refrain from giving propylthiouracil as an initial treatment to children for an overactive thyroid. Graves’ disease is relatively rare, affecting just about 8,000 children in the United States.
Methimazole, a drug sold both as a generic and under the brand name Tapazole, also can hurt the liver, but the damage is less severe and causes more obvious symptoms than is seen with propylthiouracil. Also, liver damage from methimazole is reversible when the drug is stopped, unlike propylthiouracil, the doctors said.
The physicians say parents of children with thyroid disease should contact their doctor before taking a child off either treatment.
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