Drug-induced pulmonary disease

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Respiratory system

Drug-induced pulmonary disease is a lung disease caused by an adverse (bad) reaction to a medication.

Many types of lung injury can result from medications, and it is often impossible to predict who will develop lung disease resulting from a medication or drug.

The types of lung diseases that may result from medications include:

• Allergic reactions -- asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, or eosinophilic pneumonia
• Coughing or bronchitis
• Inflammation of the lung air sacks (pneumonitis or infiltration)
• Interstitial fibrosis (scarring)
• Pulmonary edema (swelling in the lungs caused by fluid buildup in the tissues)
• Alveolar hemorrhage (bleeding into the lung air sacks)
• Pleural effusion (fluid in the tissues surrounding the lungs)
• Lung vasculitis (inflammation of lung blood vessels)
• Mediastinal inflammation (inflammation of the spaces surrounding the lungs and heart)
• Swollen lymph nodes (lymphadenopathy)
• Respiratory failure
• Granulomatous lung disease -- a type of tumor in the lungs
• Drug-induced lupus erythematosus

Numerous drugs are known to cause lung disease in some people including chemotherapy agents, certain antibiotics, illicit drugs, certain cardiovascular drugs, and many others.

Review Date: 08/10/2005
Reviewed By: David A. Kaufman, M.D., Assistant Professor, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.