Prof. Nakajima Masamitsu

• Country: Japan
• Official Title: Professor
• Department: Pharmaceutical Sciences, Traditional herbal medicine (Kampo) and Pharmacognosy
• Institute: Hiroshima International University
• E-Mail: nakajima@hirokoku-u.ac.jp

Speech Title

Herbal medicine-induced Pneumonitis

Several reports of traditional herbal medicine-associated drug-induced pneumonitis have emerged since we reported a case of drug-induced pneumonitis due to herbal medicines (e.g., Minor Bupleurum Decoction/Shosaikoto [小柴胡湯]). Drug-induced pneumonitis is a serious adverse effect that is characterized by acute respiratory failure and can occur with several medicines – regardless of whether these are Western or herbal medicines. Despite the importance of diagnosing drug-induced pneumonitis, there is currently no laboratory test to aid a definitive diagnosis. Thus, sometimes, there is difficulty in attributing the causality of drug-induced pneumonitis to herbal medicines. Although differentiation of drug-induced from infective pneumonitis is particularly important, it is often difficult to distinguish between the diseases. Accordingly, evidence in some cases of herbal medicine-induced pneumonitis reported so far has been insufficient to rule out an infective causation. In this presentation, I would like to discuss the diagnostic methods and problems associated with herbal medicine-induced pneumonitis and elucidate the usefulness of KL-6, a serum marker for interstitial pneumonitis that we developed and is popularly used in Japan, in the adjunctive diagnosis of drug-induced pneumonitis.