Europe PMC

This website requires cookies, and the limited processing of your personal data in order to function. By using the site you are agreeing to this as outlined in our privacy notice and cookie policy.

Hepatotoxicity of erythromycin estolate during pregnancy.

Author information

Affiliations

  • 1. Channing Laboratory, Departments of Medicine and Preventive and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Departments of Medical Microbiology, Medicine, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, Boston City Hospital Boston, Massachusetts 02118
      Authors
    • McCormack WM 1
    • Donner A 1
    • Kodgis LF 1
    • Alpert S 1
    • Kass EH 1
    (5 authors)
  • 2. Department of Clinical Laboratory and the Division of Research, Lahey Clinic Foundation Boston, Massachusetts 02118
      Authors
    • George H 2
    (1 author)
  • 3. Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02118
      Authors
    • Lowe EW 3
    (1 author)

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 01 Nov 1977, 12(5):630-635
https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.12.5.630 PMID: 21610 PMCID: PMC429989

Free full text in Europe PMC

A comment on this article appears in "Discussion of "conundrums with uncertainty factors"." Risk Anal. 2010 Mar;30(3):346-8; author reply 353.

Abstract 

Women in the second half of pregnancy, who were infected with genital mycoplasmas and who gave written informed consent, were randomly assigned to receive capsules of identical appearance containing erythromycin estolate, clindamycin hydrochloride, or a placebo for 6 weeks. Levels of serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (SGOT) were determined before and during treatment by a fluorometric method. All pretreatment levels of SGOT were normal (<41 units). Participants who received erythromycin estolate had significantly more abnormally elevated levels of SGOT (16/161, 9.9%) than did those who received clindamycin (4/168, 2.4%, P < 0.01) or those who received placebo (3/165, 1.8%, P < 0.01). Elevated levels of SGOT ranged from 44 to 130 U. Serum bilirubin levels were normal. Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase activity was abnormal in six of six participants who had abnormal levels of SGOT while receiving erythromycin estolate. There were few associated symptoms, and all levels of SGOT returned to normal after cessation of treatment. The treatment of pregnant women with erythromycin estolate may be inadvisable.

Free full text 

Logo of aacLink to Publisher's site
Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1977 Nov; 12(5): 630–635.
PMCID: PMC429989
PMID: 21610

Hepatotoxicity of Erythromycin Estolate During Pregnancy

William M. McCormack,1 Harvey George,2 Alan Donner,1 Lorraine F. Kodgis,1 Susan Alpert,1 Ernest W. Lowe,3 and Edward H. Kass1
Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer

Abstract

Women in the second half of pregnancy, who were infected with genital mycoplasmas and who gave written informed consent, were randomly assigned to receive capsules of identical appearance containing erythromycin estolate, clindamycin hydrochloride, or a placebo for 6 weeks. Levels of serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (SGOT) were determined before and during treatment by a fluorometric method. All pretreatment levels of SGOT were normal (<41 units). Participants who received erythromycin estolate had significantly more abnormally elevated levels of SGOT (16/161, 9.9%) than did those who received clindamycin (4/168, 2.4%, P < 0.01) or those who received placebo (3/165, 1.8%, P < 0.01). Elevated levels of SGOT ranged from 44 to 130 U. Serum bilirubin levels were normal. Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase activity was abnormal in six of six participants who had abnormal levels of SGOT while receiving erythromycin estolate. There were few associated symptoms, and all levels of SGOT returned to normal after cessation of treatment. The treatment of pregnant women with erythromycin estolate may be inadvisable.

Full text

Full text is available as a scanned copy of the original print version. Get a printable copy (PDF file) of the complete article (853K), or click on a page image below to browse page by page. Links to PubMed are also available for Selected References.
 
icon of scanned page 630
630
icon of scanned page 631
631
icon of scanned page 632
632
icon of scanned page 633
633
icon of scanned page 634
634
icon of scanned page 635
635
 

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
  • Braun P. Hepatotoxicity of erythromycin. J Infect Dis. 1969 Mar;119(3):300–306. [Abstract] [Google Scholar]
  • Braun P, Klein JO, Kass EH. Susceptibility of genital mycoplasmas to antimicrobial agents. Appl Microbiol. 1970 Jan;19(1):62–70. [Europe PMC free article] [Abstract] [Google Scholar]
  • Braun P, Lee YH, Klein JO, Marcy SM, Klein TA, Charles D, Levy P, Kass EH. Birth weight and genital mycoplasmas in pregnancy. N Engl J Med. 1971 Jan 28;284(4):167–171. [Abstract] [Google Scholar]
  • Elder HA, Santamarina BA, Smith S, Kass EH. The natural history of asymptomatic bacteriuria during pregnancy: the effect of tetracycline on the clinical course and the outcome of pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1971 Oct 1;111(3):441–462. [Abstract] [Google Scholar]
  • Griffith RS, Black HR. Erythromycin. Med Clin North Am. 1970 Sep;54(5):1199–1215. [Abstract] [Google Scholar]
  • HENRY RJ, CHIAMORI N, GOLUB OJ, BERKMAN S. Revised spectrophotometric methods for the determination of glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase, glutamic-pyruvic transaminase, and lactic acid dehydrogenase. Am J Clin Pathol. 1960 Oct;34:381–398. [Abstract] [Google Scholar]
  • Janicki RS, Garnham JC, Worland MC, Grundy WE, Thomas JR. Comparison of erythromycin ethyl succinate, stearate and estolate treatments of group A streptococcal infections of the upper respiratory tract. Clin Pediatr (Phila) 1975 Dec;14(12):1098–1107. [Abstract] [Google Scholar]
  • JOHNSON DF, Jr, HALL WH. Allergic hepatitis caused by propionyl erythromycin ester of lauryl sulfate. N Engl J Med. 1961 Dec 14;265:1200–1202. [Abstract] [Google Scholar]
  • Sabath LD, Gerstein DA, Finland M. Serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase. False elevations during administration of erythromycin. N Engl J Med. 1968 Nov 21;279(21):1137–1139. [Abstract] [Google Scholar]
  • Klein JO, Buckland D, Finland M. Colonization of newborn infants by mycoplasmas. N Engl J Med. 1969 May 8;280(19):1025–1030. [Abstract] [Google Scholar]
  • Szasz G. A kinetic photometric method for serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase. Clin Chem. 1969 Feb;15(2):124–136. [Abstract] [Google Scholar]
  • Lum G, Gambino SR. Serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase activity as an indicator of disease of liver, pancreas, or bone. Clin Chem. 1972 Apr;18(4):358–362. [Abstract] [Google Scholar]
Articles from Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

Full text links 

Read article at publisher's site: https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.12.5.630

Read article for free, from open access legal sources, via Unpaywall: https://aac.asm.org/content/12/5/630.full.pdfUnpaywall

Citations & impact 

Impact metrics

34
Citations
Jump to Citations

Citations of article over time

Alternative metrics

Altmetric item for https://www.altmetric.com/details/3130975
Altmetric
Discover the attention surrounding your research
https://www.altmetric.com/details/3130975

Article citations

Go to all (34) article citations

Other citations

Similar Articles 

To arrive at the top five similar articles we use a word-weighted algorithm to compare words from the Title and Abstract of each citation.