tacrolimus and Hallucinations

The visual cortex may be involved in adverse drug reactions, leading to three different clinical presentations: cortical blindness, visual hallucinations and visual aura without headache. The drugs with potential visual cortex toxicity are described.

Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Blindness, Cortical; Carmustine; Cathartics; Cholinergic Antagonists; Cisplatin; Cyclosporine; Dopamine Agents; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; Hallucinations; Humans; Interferons; Serotonin Agents; Tacrolimus; Vidarabine; Vincristine; Visual Cortex

Tacrolimus and cyclosporine, both calcineurin inhibitors, can cause neurological side effects. While mild symptoms such as tremor are well recognised, severe complications including seizures and encephalopathy are poorly documented following renal transplantation.. We report a 42 year old man who received a cadaver renal transplant. He received tacrolimus and prednisolone. The course was uneventful for 6 weeks when he became intermittently confused, with unsteady gait and slurred speech. Following a grand mal convulsion he was admitted. He had no focal neurological signs, cerebrospinal fluid was normal; electroencephalogram was consistent with temporal lobe partial epilepsy. The magnetic resonance imaging of brain showed widespread changes with multiple areas of low signal intensity in brain stem and cerebral hemispheres. He was readmitted 3 weeks later after further fits, despite anti-convulsant therapy. He was psychotic with visual hallucinations, and rapidly became obtunded. Although his tacrolimus blood concentration had been kept in the normal range, his symptoms improved dramatically when the tacrolimus was stopped.. Severe central nervous system toxicity from calcineurin inhibitors has been rarely reported in renal transplantation and we found only one report of tacrolimus-induced toxicity in an adult. We believe the condition is frequently undiagnosed. It is a very important diagnosis not to miss as the remedy is simple and failure may result in unnecessary brain biopsy, as well as irreversible injury.

Topics: Adult; Anticonvulsants; Disease Progression; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe; Hallucinations; Humans; Immunosuppressive Agents; Kidney Transplantation; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Psychotic Disorders; Tacrolimus