Rhabdomyolysis in a patient treated with linezolid for extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis

Abstract

Prolonged use of linezolid was temporally and mechanistically associated with rhabdomyolysis in a patient being treated for extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. Careful laboratory monitoring of such subjects is important during prolonged linezolid therapy.

Figure 1.

The temporal sequence of events for this subject following study enrollment. An arrow and the letter R indicate the 2 episodes of rhabdomyolysis prior to week 20 and week 30. The dark horizontal line with reference to the right axis indicates the linezolid dose throughout, and the ratio of the chromosomally encoded cytochrome c oxidase to the mitochondrial citrate synthase is indicated by a dotted line with triangles denoting the measured values. The horizontal lines at the top indicate concurrent tuberculosis therapies and their timing, with a vertical hash indicating stop or start and a dashed line indicating prior or continuing therapy.