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Case Reports
. 2015;54(13):1639-41.
doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.54.3496. Epub 2015 Jul 1.

Identifying the Cause of the "Saturation Gap": Two Cases of Dapsone-induced Methemoglobinemia

Kenjiro Furuta  1 , Satoshi Ikeo, Takuya Takaiwa, Satoshi Ikeda, Akihiro Nishiyama, Toshihide Yokoyama, Akihiro Ito, Fumiaki Tokioka, Maki Tanaka, Hiroshige Yoshioka, Hiromasa Tachibana, Machiko Arita, Toru Hashimoto, Tadashi Ishida
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Free article
Case Reports

Identifying the Cause of the "Saturation Gap": Two Cases of Dapsone-induced Methemoglobinemia

Kenjiro Furuta et al. Intern Med. 2015.
Free article

Abstract

Diaphenylsulfone (DDS: Dapsone) is used for Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) prophylaxis, and methemoglobinemia has rarely been reported as a side effect of DDS. We herein report two cases of DDS-related methemoglobinemia in an 81-year-old man with organizing pneumonia and an 84-year-old woman with eosinophilic pneumonia under treatment with prednisolone. Both patients initially received trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole for PCP prophylaxis and were switched to DDS due to side effects and subsequently exhibited a clinically unexplainable decrease in SpO2. Methemoglobinemia was diagnosed based on the findings of arterial blood gas analyses. In both cases, the methemoglobinemia improved after discontinuing DDS.

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