| Toxizitätsübersicht | IDENTIFICATION: Ethambutol is used to treat tuberculosis. Ethambutol is an odorless crystalline hygroscopic powder. It is soluble in water, alcohol, chloroform, methyl alcohol, and very slightly soluble in ether. HUMAN EXPOSURE: Summary: Main risks and target organs: During chronic treatment ethambutol may produce visual and neurological disturbances, allergic reactions, gastrointestinal symptoms, psychiatric symptoms and transient impairment of liver function. This last event has a very low incidence. Increased serum uric acid levels and acute gouty arthritis have been reported. Summary of clinical effects: Acute overdosage may cause gastrointestinal symptoms, hallucinations and optic neuritis. Acute overdosage symptoms include nausea, abdominal pain, fever, mental confusion, visual hallucinations, and optic neuropathy (retrobulbar neuritis) with doses over 10 g. The effects of overdosage are not well established. During chronic treatment the following have been reported: Visual disturbances: Ethambutol may produce a reduction of visual acuity which appear to be due to optic neuritis. Central scotoma and green-red colour blindness may also occur. Allergic reactions: Rash, anaphylactoid reactions, dermatitis and pruritus. Gastrointestinal symptoms: Abdominal pain, anorexia, nausea, vomiting. Neurological disturbances and psychiatric symptoms: Headache, peripheral neuritis, dizziness, mental confusion, disorientation and hallucinations. Other side effects: Jaundice, transient impairment of liver function, fever, increase of serum uric acid levels, joint pain, acute gouty arthritis, malaise. Ethambutol may diffuse into milk. Ethambutol is a synthetic oral antibiotic derivative of ethylenediamine. Contraindications: Ethambutol hydrochloride is contraindicated in patients who are known to be hypersensitive to this drug. Renal impairment, old age and optic neuritis are relative contraindications. Routes of entry: Oral: Ethambutol is only available for oral use. Absorption by route of exposure: About 80% of an oral dose of ethambutol is absorbed from the gastro-intestinal tract, and the remainder appears in the feces unchanged. Absorption is not significantly impaired by food. Distribution by route of exposure: Ethambutol diffuses readily into red blood cells and into the cerebrospinal fluid when the meninges are inflamed. The concentration in erythrocytes at steady state is approximately twice the plasma concentration. It has been reported to cross the placenta and is excreted in breast milk. Biological half-life by route of exposure: The serum half-life in therapeutic doses is 3 hours, increasing in renal failure, as 80% is excreted renally. Metabolism: The main path of metabolism appears to be an initial oxidation of the alcohol to an aldehydic intermediate, followed by conversion to a dicarboxylic acid. Elimination by route of exposure: During the 24 hour period following oral administration of ethambutol, approximately 50% of the initial dose is excreted unchanged in the urine, while an additional 8% to 15% appears in the form of metabolites. From 20 to 22% of the initial dose is excreted in the feces as unchanged drug. Mode of action: Toxicodynamics: The underlying cause of visual alterations appears to be a disturbance of metabolism due to depletion of copper and zinc which serve as prosthetic groups for many enzymes. The eye normally contains a considerable store of zinc. Much of the zinc is in the pigmented cells of the outer zone of the retina, where it serves as a metal prosthetic group for retinol (alcohol) dehydrogenase. Pharmacodynamics: Ethambutol is an oral chemotherapeutic agent which is specifically effective against actively growing microorganisms of the genus Mycobacterium, including M. tuberculosis. Ethambutol is bacteriostatic and appears to inhibit the synthesis of one or more metabolites, thus causing impairment of cell metabolism, arrest of multiplication, and cell death. No cross resistance with other available antimycobacterial agents has been demonstrated. Ethambutol has been shown to be effective against strains of mycobacterium tuberculosis but does not seem to be active against fungi, viruses, or other bacteria. Ethambutol is also active against some atypical mycobacteria including M. kansasii. Primary resistance to ethambutol is uncommon in developed countries but resistant strains of M. tuberculosis are readily produced if the drug is used alone. Human data: Adults: Subclinical impairment of colour discrimination was reported to be relatively common in patients receiving ethambutol daily as part of antituberculous chemotherapy when compared with 50 patients receiving other antituberculous agents. Peripheral neuropathy has been reported in tubercular patients who had received ethambutol among other drugs. Interactions: Results of a crossover study involving 13 tuberculous patients suggest that concomitant administration of aluminium hydroxide may delay and reduce absorption of ethambutol in some patients. Untoward effects may be enhanced when ethambutol is combined with isoniazid or rifampicin. Main adverse effects: Ethambutol may produce decreased visual acuity which appear to be due to optic neuritis and to be related to dose and duration of treatment. The effects are generally reversible when administration of the drug is discontinued promptly. Ethambutol may produce constriction of visual field, central and peripheral scotoma, and green-red color blindness which may be associated with retrobulbar neuritis. Renal clearance of urate may be reduced in about 50% of patients receiving ethambutol and acute gout has been precipitated in patients with gout or impaired renal function. Cholestatic jaundice has been reported. ANIMAL/PLANT STUDIES: Relevant animal data: Toxicological studies in dogs on high prolonged doses, produced evidence of myocardial damage and failure, and depigmentation of the tapetum lucidum of the eyes, the significance of which is not known. Degenerative changes in the central nervous system, apparently not dose-related, have also been noted in dogs receiving ethambutol hydrochloride over a prolonged period. In the rhesus monkey, neurological signs appeared after treatment with high doses given daily over a period of several months. These correlated with specific serum levels of ethambutol hydrochloride and with definite neuro-anatomical changes in the central nervous system. Focal interstitial carditis was also noted in monkeys which received ethambutol hydrochloride in high doses for a prolonged period.Signs and Symptoms of Toxicity |
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