[Liver damage attributed to the use of disulfiram]

In three alcoholic patients, two men aged 30 and 42, and a woman aged 52, hepatitis was diagnosed after the use of disulfiram. In all cases, there was a close temporal relationship between the occurrence of symptoms and disulfiram intake. Other possible causes were excluded. The 30-year-old man died from liver damage. Biopsy showed massive hepatic necrosis without signs of alcoholic hepatitis. In the other patients, symptoms subsided quickly and liver function returned to normal after discontinuation of disulfiram, but there was no confirmation by biopsy. The possibility of drug-induced hepatitis should always be considered in an alcoholic patient treated with disulfiram.