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Tetraparesis associated with colchicine is probably due to inhibition by of the P- efflux pump in the blood-brain barrier Uwe Tröger, Hartmut Lins, Jean-M Scherrmann, Claus-Werner Wallesch, Stefanie M Bode-Böger

An 83 year old man had an acute attack of . He Institute of Clinical treated himself with colchicine drops (2 mg in two days) Colchicine concentration in cerebrospinal fluid Pharmacology, Otto-von-Guericke- and received diclofenac because of continuous pain. Con- Verapamil concentration in serum Colchicine concentration in serum University, currently he had muscle weakness in his limbs. Four days Leipziger Strasse Norverapamil concentration in serum 44, D-39120 later he became immobile and was transferred to hospital 2.0 with flaccid tetraparesis (British Medical Research Council Magdeburg, Germany grade II-III). He had no signs of infection, hepatic or renal 1.6 Uwe Tröger impairments, or stroke. Laboratory values were normal 500 400 consultant in clinical except a brief increase of to 1288.2 IU/l. 1.2 300 pharmacology Repeated conduction studies did not show any 200 Stefanie M 0.8 100 Bode-Böger relevant pathology, including normal terminal latencies concentration (ng/ml) and F wave latencies. Electromyography subsequently 0 Verapamil/norverapamil professor in clinical pharmacology showed signs of lower motor neurone lesion. Muscle 0.4 Colchicine intake 1 mg/day biopsy showed one isolated vacuole that could not be Colchicine concentration (ng/ml) Department of 0 Neurology, related to a colchicine induced myoneuropathy. Analysis 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011121314151617181920 Otto-von-Guericke- of cerebrospinal fluid was unremarkable and indicated Day University only a slight disturbance in the blood-cerebrospinal fluid Colchicine, verapamil, and norverapamil concentrations in serum and Hartmut Lins barrier (protein 548 mg/l). An atypical Guillain-Barré senior registrar in cerebrospinal fluid as a function of time syndrome was clinically diagnosed. neurology He was also taking 120 mg/day of slow release Claus-Werner verapamil continuously for tachyarrhythmia, a sick sinus Wallesch tration in healthy human volunteers and elderly subjects. Eur J Clin professor in neurology syndrome of the heart basically controlled by a pace maker, Pharmacol 1994;46:351-4. , acetylsalicylic acid, ambroxol, and theophylline. 2 Kuncl RW, Duncan G, Watson D, Alderson K, Rogawski MA, Peper M. INSERM U705, CNRS UMR 7157, A tetraparesis due to neuromyopathy induced by colch- Colchicine and neuropathy. N Engl J Med 1987;316:1562-8. 3 Pauli-Magnus C, von Richter O, Burk O, Ziegler A, Mettang T, University Paris 7, icines was diagnosed because of concentration-time curves Eichelbaum M, et al. Characterization of the major metabolites of University Paris 5, in serum and cerebrospinal fluid. verapamil as substrates and inhibitors of P-glycoprotein. J Pharmacol Exp Hopital F Widal, The diagnosis was revised to neuromyopathy induced Ther 2000;293:376-82. 200 rue du 4 Drion N, Risede P, Cholet N, Chanez C, Scherrmann JM. Role of P-170 Faubourg by colchicine when excessive colchicine concentrations in glycoprotein in colchicine brain uptake. J Neurosci Res 1997;49:80-8. saint-Denis, serum as well as in cerebrospinal fluid were determined doi 10.1136/bmj.38568.639688.F7 F-75475 Paris, retrospectively using a radioimmunoassay.1 Although the cedex 10, France http://www.bmj.com/ serum concentration decreased slightly it remained Jean-Michel constant in the cerebrospinal fluid in the following days This article was posted on bmj.com on 7 September 2005: Scherrmann professor in pharmacy (figure). The calculated half life in serum was increased http://bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.38568.639688.F7 eightfold compared with a dose and age matched Correspondence to: reference population (272 hours v 34 hours).1 The colchi- U Tröger uwe.troeger@medizin. cine cerebrospinal fluid to serum ratio of about 50% was Corrections and clarifications uni-magdeburg.de much higher than normal (less than 10%). At the follow-up on day 40, he had recovered incompletely but Basic transthoracic echocardiography BMJ 2005;331:613 on 27 September 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. colchicine was not detectable in serum. The authors of this Clinical Review article, Graham Typical features of colchicine induced myoneuropathy S Hillis and Peter Bloomfield, have alerted us to an such as high cumulative doses, long term treatment, or renal errorintheircaptiontofigure5(BMJ insufficiency2 were not found in our case. Verapamil is an 2005;330:1432-6, 18 Jun). It should read: “Modified inhibitor of CYP3A and a potent inhibitor (with norver- parasternal long axis view showing left atrial apamil threefold stronger) of the P-glycoprotein trans- myxoma.” porter acting as a blood-brain barrier drug efflux pump.3 An The Law and Ethics of Medical Research: International increase of colchicine uptake was seen in a rat’s brain as well Bioethics and Human Rights as in a rat’s plasma by verapamil up to 4.5-fold and In this book review by Berna Arda we mistakenly 1.65-fold, respectively. These results indicate a dominant ascribed the wrong sex to the book’s author, responsibility of the P-glycoprotein inhibition for the Aurora Plomer, referring to her as “he” rather than colchicine accumulation in cerebrospinal fluid.4 Colchicine “she” (BMJ 2005;331:298, 30 Jul). is a substrate for CYP3A4 in the liver. Its inhibition might be Radiation from CT and perfusion scanning in responsible for increased colchicine serum concentrations. A mistyped abbreviation led to an error in a unit in Colchicine related tetraparesis is most likely due to a this letter by J Valmai Cook and John Kyriou (BMJ pharmacokinetic interaction in the human brain with 2005;331:350, 6 Aug). In the second paragraph, in verapamil and norverapamil. The Drug Commission of relation to low dose technetium-99m perfusion the German Medical Profession is not aware of any other lung scans, we should have said 50 megabecquerels cases of this drug interaction. (not millibecquerels). Also, we spelt out CTPA as computed tomography for pulmonary Funding: None. angiography, whereas the procedure is more Competing interests: None declared. usually referred to as computed tomography pulmonary angiography. 1 Rochdi M, Sabouraud A, Girre C, Venet R, Scherrmann JM. Pharmacoki- netics and absolute of colchicine after i.v. and oral adminis-

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