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Hypoprothrombinemia During Cefmetazole Treatment: A Case Report

Yuichiro Haba, Hikaru Akizuki, N. Hashiguchi, Toshio Naito

The American journal of case reports, 2022

6 citations

Abstract

Patient: Female, 76-year-old Final Diagnosis: Drug induced hypoprothrombinemia Symptoms: Abdominal pain • fever • loss of appetite Medication: — Clinical Procedure: Blood tests • CT scan Specialty: Infectious Diseases Objective: Unusual clinical course Background: Cefmetazole (CMZ), containing an N-methyl-tetrazole-thiol (NMTT) side chain, is a therapeutic option for diverticulitis in Japan. Cephems containing an NMTT, a methyl-thiadiazol, and a thiadiazolethiol side chain are known to induce coagulation disorders. Case Report: A 76-year-old woman developed hypoprothrombinemia after receiving oral levofloxacin (LVFX) 250 mg q24h for 2 days followed by intravenous CMZ 2 g q8h for sigmoid diverticulitis. On day 5 of CMZ administration (after 12 doses in total), black stool was observed. On the following day (after 14 doses), prothrombin time (PT) prolongation was noted; PT and international normalized ratio (INR) were 37.1 s and 2.47, respectively. We diagnosed the patient with hypoprothrombinemia because of vitamin K deficiency caused by markedly elevated protein levels induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II on day 6 of CMZ administration. Intravenous vitamin K administration and CMZ cessation rapidly restored PT and led to the disappearance of black stool. Conclusions: The causes of vitamin K deficiency were considered to be an impaired vitamin K cycle due to CMZ and decreased vitamin K intake because of malnutrition. These findings are consistent with CMZ’s reported…

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