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Cardiovasc Drugs Ther (2006) 20: 391392
DOI 10.1007/s10557-006-0493-8
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Acute Myocardial Infarction Due to Disulfiram (Antabus)Alcohol Interaction
Gurcan Altun & Armagan Altun & Okan Erdogan
Published online: 17 November 2006 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2006
Key words alcohol . disulfiram . antabus . acetaldehyde . myocardial infarction
Disulfiram is an irreversible inhibitor of the aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme (ALDH). It is used since 1940 for the treatment of chronic alcoholism [1]. However, it is not a safe drug. It may cause severe harmful adverse effects secondary to ingestion of disulfiram and alcohol [2, 3]. We here present a young man who suffered an inferoposterior myocardial infarction that probably be caused by disulfiramalcohol interaction.
A 36-year-old man was admitted to local hospital because of severe epigastric and retrosternal pain with radiation down to his left arm that is accompanied with nausea and sweating. He was then referred to our hospital 20 h after onset of his complaints. He was diagnosed as having inferoposterior myocardial infarction and commenced conventional therapy including heparin, aspirin, metoprolol, atorvastatin, and enalapril. The past medical history revealed chronic alcoholism and smoking. He had no previous history of any cardiac disorder. He was taking disulfiram (0.5 g/daily) and quit alcohol intake for 7 months. Additionally, he revealed that he had not taken any alcoholic beverages
before his symptom onset. Approximately 12 h before his symptoms began, he consumed salad with fermented vinegar for dinner and used aftershave lotion...