Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 15, 2026
Author Spotlight: Investigating the Pathophysiology of Eosinophilic Esophagitis
Published on: May 10, 2024
Liver injury in patients with DRESS: A clinical study of 72 cases
I-Chun Lin1, Hung-Chih Yang2, Carol Strong3
1Department of Dermatology, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
Background:
Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) is a syndrome involving multiple systems. Liver injury is the most common visceral manifestation.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the types of liver injury and factors associated with DRESS.
Methods:
A retrospective cohort study was conducted in Taiwan using a DRESS database compiled from December 2000 to March 2013.
Results:
Seventy-two cases were included in this study. Among them, 62 (86.1%) cases involved liver injury, 6 of which (9.7%) were liver injury before skin presentation. The distribution of liver injury patterns at initial presentation was 23 cholestatic type (37.1%), 17 mixed type (27.4%), and 12 hepatocellular type (19.4%). Patients with hepatocellular-type injuries were younger, with a median age of 31.5 (P = .044). Individuals with liver function results more than 10 times the upper limit were more likely to have fever (P = .026), took more time to recover, and had fewer eosinophils in the dermis (P = .002).
Limitations:
The study was a retrospective cohort study with limited cases.
Conclusions:
Liver injury is common in DRESS and frequently associated with atypical lymphocytosis. The cholestatic type is the most common type. Patients with cholestatic-type injuries were older and more frequently had interface changes in skin pathology.
