[Respiratory insufficiency due to pulmonary toxicity of amiodarone]

A 70-year-old woman suffering from atrial fibrillation was treated with amiodarone, but developed acute respiratory failure necessitating mechanical ventilation for four weeks. Pulmonary function remained restrictively impaired after weaning from the ventilation, due to pulmonary fibrosis. Pulmonary toxicity is a well-known adverse reaction to amiodarone, but it rarely requires mechanical ventilation. The Netherlands Centre for Monitoring of Adverse Reactions to Drugs received II reports of this life-threatening reaction since 1976.