A Reason of Delayed Weaning in Critical Care: Amiodarone Pulmonary Toxicity

Amiodarone is a frequently used antiarrhythmic drug in criticalcare which was used to treat especially ventricular arrhythmias.But it must known that secondary to its chemical properties, drugtends to accumulate in tissues and it presents as cardiac, ophtalmic,pulmonary and neurological side effects. Amiodarone pulmonarytoxicity (APT) is one of the life-threatening side effects ofthe drug which may present as respiratory failure. And thorax computedtomography scans demonstrate the pathology with pneumonitis,groung glass opacities and fibrosis. Dispnea and coughare common clinical presentations. But an intubated and mechanicallyventilated patient’s respiratory failure secondary to APT mayreflect as only delayed weaning as in our case. Most importantly,rapid diagnosis and early treatment are the most important factorsthat reduce the mortality of patients.