Features of the child form of quinolone arthropathy

A group of scientists from the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at the American State Medical University, based on the American Children's Clinical Hospital, conducted a prospective comparative study of the arthritis toxicity of fluoroquinolones in children.

The study, which lasted from 1993 to 2001, included two groups of children: 144 patients with cystic fibrosis and 37 patients with aplastic anemia, each divided into three subgroups receiving ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, respectively. and pefloxacin.

In cystic fibrosis, fluoroquinolones have been used to relieve the exacerbation of the short bronchopulmonary process (14-21 days) in combination with other antibiotics - cephalosporins and aminoglycosides. In the group of patients with aplastic anemia, fluoroquinolones were prescribed as monotherapy throughout the granulocytopenia period for the purpose of intestinal decontamination and prevention of Gram-negative sepsis.

To identify the signs of quinolone arthropathy, a follow-up observation, a measurement of the annual growth rate, a post-mortem morphological study of the structures of the right knee joint were used.

The results of the study showed that quinolone arthropathy occurred significantly more frequently with pefloxacin than with ciprofloxacin and was never observed with ofloxacin. It should be noted that the course of arthropathy to quinolones, traced in a long history, was of a favorable nature, resolving completely depending on the form of the disease (arthralgic, arthritic) in the period from 7 days to 3 months. The study did not find a negative effect of fluoroquinolones on the annual growth rate of children with follow-up periods of up to 5 years.

Researchers emphasize the peculiarity of the childish form of quinolone arthropathy, the main difference of which is the absence of damage to articular cartilage, confirmed by morphological studies.