Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Pharmacol Ther. Sep 5, 2021; 12(5): 100-102
Published online Sep 5, 2021. doi: 10.4292/wjgpt.v12.i5.100
Overview on drug-induced liver injury in Brazil
Fernando Bessone
Fernando Bessone, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Hospital Provincial del Centenario, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, University of Rosario School of Medicine, Rosario 2000, Santa Fe, Argentina
Author contributions: Bessone F designed research, performed research, analyzed data and revised the letter.
Conflict-of-interest statement: I have no conflict of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Fernando Bessone, MD, Full Professor, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Hospital Provincial del Centenario, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, University of Rosario School of Medicine, Urquiza 3101, Rosario 2000, Santa Fe, Argentina. bessonefernando@gmail.com
Received: June 21, 2021
Peer-review started: June 21, 2021
First decision: July 31, 2021
Revised: August 6, 2021
Accepted: August 27, 2021
Article in press: August 27, 2021
Published online: September 5, 2021
Abstract

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is an uncommon event in clinical practice, which makes knowing its true incidence difficult. Prospective, retrospective and registry-based studies are the most important methods to obtain epidemiological data on DILI. Latin America (LA) has a historical lack of prospective studies on this topic. New definitions and the creation of hepatotoxicity registries have significantly improved the epidemiological understanding of hepatic drug reactions in several regions of the world. The Latin American DILI network, referred to as LATINDILI, has been created in 2011, and recently published its own DILI recommendations describing the most relevant issues on the management of hepatotoxicity in general, and those based on findings from our own LA experience in particular. Although most of the registries do not carry out population-based studies, they may provide important data related to the prevalence of DILI. The joint work among researchers and the corresponding health and regulatory authorities should be stimulated due to the high impact that hepatotoxicity represents for public health.

Keywords: Hepatotoxicity, Drug-induced liver injury, Drug-induced liver injury registries, Herbs, Hepatitis

Core Tip: Liver damage induced by drugs and herbs was historically underreported in Latin America until the advent of a Latin American Registry of Hepatotoxicity (LATINDILI), which progressively improved knowledge about the most frequently involved drugs inducing liver injury in this region. This article letter emphasizes on the value of being able to centralize cases linked to hepatotoxicity in a Latin American drug-induced liver injury network, and discuss the present and future advantages of this valuable tool, which should work along with regulatory entities to achieve a high impact on public health policy.