Abstract
Background Piperacillin/tazobactam, a semisynthetic antibiotic, is widely used to treat polymicrobial infections. Its hematologic adverse reactions are rare and the severity can be mild to life-threatening. To our knowledge, there has not been a publication reviewing hematologic abnormalities attributable to piperacillin/tazobactam. Aim of the review To evaluate the characteristic, clinical identification, mechanism and treatment of the hematologic toxicity caused by piperacillin/tazobactam. Method A search of Medline and Embase electronic databases was performed for case reports of adverse reactions of hematologic system related to piperacillin/tazobactam from inception to December 2018. Statistical analysis of demographic, clinical features, laboratory Indexes and treatments was performed using Microsoft EXCEL 2007. Results Fifty-nine references were obtained involving 62 patients. The adverse drug reactions were mainly hemolytic anemia (25, 40.3%), thrombocytopenia (23, 37.1%), and neutropenia (12, 19.4%), which might be accompanied by some typical symptoms. Hemolytic anemia or thrombocytopenia was generally believed to be immune-mediated and often appeared within 10 days, and neutropenia was thought to be related to bone marrow suppression and usually occurred 2 weeks after the initiation of piperacillin/tazobactam. Most patients improved or recovered within a week with treatment or not, and fewer high-quality evidence-based treatments were identified. Conclusion Although part of the patients have clinical symptom, the hematologic adverse drug reactions of piperacillin/tazobactam are easily overlooked or misdiagnosed. Take special caution for patients with prolonged piperacillin/tazobactam treatment or specific disease, and prompt recognition and treatment of the adverse drug reactions are essential and can hasten recovery regardless of the type of side reactions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Schoonover LL, Occhipinti DJ, Rodvold KA, Danziger LH. Piperacillin/tazobactam: a new beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor combination. Ann Pharmacother. 1995;29(5):501–14.
Kuye O, Teal J, DeVries VG, Morrow CA, Tally FP. Safety profile of piperacillin/tazobactam in phase I and III clinical studies. J Antimicrob Chemother. 1993;31(suppl A):113–24.
Perry CM, Markham A. Piperacillin/tazobactam: an updated review of its use in the treatment of bacterial infections. Drugs. 1999;57(5):805–43.
Hay D, Hill M, Littlewood T. Neutropenia in primary care. BMJ. 2014;349:g5340.
Meghrajani V, Sabharwal N, Namana V, Elsheshtawy M, Topi B. A case of hyperacute severe thrombocytopenia occurring less than 24 hours after intravenous tirofiban infusion. Case Rep Hematol. 2018;2018:4357981.
Retter A, Wyncoll D, Pearse R, Carson D, McKechnie S, Stanworth S, et al. Guidelines on the management of anaemia and red cell transfusion in adult critically ill patients. Br J Haematol. 2013;160(4):445–64.
Arndt PA, Garratty G, Hill J, Kasper M, Chandrasekaran V. Two cases of immune haemolytic anaemia, associated with anti-piperacillin, detected by the ‘immune complex’ method. Vox Sang. 2002;83(3):273–8.
Broadberry RE, Farren TW, Bevin SV, Kohler JA, Yates S, Skidmore I, et al. Tazobactam-induced haemolytic anaemia, possibly caused by non-immunological adsorption of IgG onto patient's red cells. Transfus Med. 2004;14(1):53–7.
Dapper I, Nauwynck M, Selleslag D, Hidajat M, Bourgeois M, Martens P, et al. Haemolytic anaemia caused by piperacillin–tazobactam. Acta Clin Belg. 2009;64(6):517–9.
Garcia Gala JM, Vazquez Aller S, Rodriguez Vicente P, Morante PC. Immune hemolysis due to piperacillin/tazobactam. Transfus Apher Sci. 2009;40(2):97–8.
Bandara M, Seder DB, Garratty G, Leger RM, Zuckerman JB. Piperacillin-induced immune hemolytic anemia in an adult with cystic fibrosis. Case Rep Med. 2010;2010:161454.
Chavez A, Mian A, Scurlock AM, Blackall D, Com G. Antibiotic hypersensitivity in CF: drug-induced life-threatening hemolytic anemia in a pediatric patient. J Cyst Fibros. 2010;9(6):433–8.
Lohiya GS, Tan-Figueroa L, Krishna V. Piperacillin-induced immune hemolysis presenting with tachycardia and cardiac arrest. Case Rep Med. 2011;2011:816497.
Gehrie E, Neff AT, Ciombor KK, Harris N, Seegmiller AC, Young PP. Profound piperacillin-mediated drug-induced immune hemolysis in a patient with cystic fibrosis. Transfusion. 2012;52(1):4–5.
Marik PE, Parekh P. Life-threatening piperacillin-induced immune haemolysis in a patient with cystic fibrosis. BMJ Case Rep. 2013;2013:bcr2012007801.
Zanetti RC, Biswas AK. Hemolytic anemia as a result of piperacillin/tazobactam administration: a case report and discussion of pathophysiology. Mil Med. 2013;178(9):e1045–7.
Diab CL, Marcos MC, Girón MRM. Cystic fibrosis and piperacillin–tazobactam: adverse reactions. Arch Bronconeumol. 2015;51(12):664–5.
Prince BT, McMahon BJ, Jain M, Peters AT. Meropenem tolerance in a patient with probable fulminant piperacillin-induced immune hemolytic anemia. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2015;3(3):452–3.
Meinus C, Schwarz C, Mayer B, Roehmel JF. Piperacillin-induced mild haemolytic anaemia in a 44-year-old patient with cystic fibrosis. BMJ Case Rep. 2016;2016:bcr2016216937.
Kerkhoff AD, Patrick L, Cornett P, Kleinhenz ME, Brondfield S. Severe piperacillin–tazobactam-induced hemolysis in a cystic fibrosis patient. Clin Case Rep. 2017;5(12):2059–61.
Sarkar RS, Philip J, Mallhi RS, Jain N. Drug-induced immune hemolytic anemia (Direct Antiglobulin Test positive). Med J Armed Forces India. 2013;69(2):190–2.
Thickett KM, Wildman MJ, Fegan CD, Stableforth DE. Haemolytic anaemia following treatment with piperacillin in a patient with cystic fibrosis. J Antimicrob Chemother. 1999;43(3):435–6.
Nagao B, Yuan S, Homme MB. Sudden onset of severe anemia in a patient with cystic fibrosis. Clin Chem. 2012;58(9):1286–9.
Vakil A, Reddy DR, Guru P, Iyer V. Common drug causing uncommon reaction. Crit Care Med. 2014;42(12 Suppl):A1642.
Lee PJ, Patel B, Bailey JA, Jakway J, Simard A, Katharine M, et al. Drug-induced hemolytic anemia presenting with anti-e specificity. Transfusion. 2014;54(Suppl):166A–A167.
Devlin JJ, Morgan BW. Methemoglobinemia and carboxyhemoglobinemia associated with Zosyn-induced bite cell hemolytic anemia. Clin Toxicol. 2012;50(7):685–6.
Sahai T, Donohoe K, Levine R. Piperacillin induced hemolytic anemia: severe hemolysis in the absence of C3 positivity on DAT. Transfusion. 2018;58(Suppl):191A.
Nguyen TN, Mallet D, Benramdane R, Thuong M, Morin F, Durrand V, et al. Severe immune hemolytic anemia, associated with anti-piperacillin, detected by the "Immune Complex" method. Transfusion. 2016;56(Suppl):126A–A127.
Just B, Mayer B, Schulte F, Deitenbeck R. A fatal immune haemolytic anaemia associated with piperacillin dependent antibodies. Vox Sang. 2010;99:362.
Zhu JM, Schmidt T, Glass M. In search of a culprit: a case of massive hemolysis from a commonly used drug. J Gen Intern Med. 2015;30(Suppl 2):S413–4.
Mohammed I, Greer K. Severe acute hemolytic anemia due to piperacillin. Crit Care Med. 2005;33(12):A182.
Pérez-Vázquez A, Pastor JM, Riancho JA. Immune thrombocytopenia caused by piperacillin/tazobactam. Clin Infect Dis. 1998;27(3):650–1.
Yan MT, Chu HY, Chau T, Lin SH. Profound thrombocytopenia associated with piperacillin in a hemodialysis patient. Clin Nephrol. 2009;72(3):240–3.
Rousan TA, Aldoss IT, Cowley BD Jr, Curtis BR, Bougie DW, Aster RH, et al. Recurrent acute thrombocytopenia in the hospitalized patient: sepsis, DIC, HIT, or antibiotic-induced thrombocytopenia. Am J Hematol. 2010;85(1):71–4.
Anand A, Chauhan HKC. Piperacillin and vancomycin induced severe thrombocytopenia in a hospitalized patient. Platelets. 2011;22(4):294–301.
Macwilliam JL, Mistry R, Floyd MS, Baird AD. Piperacillin/tazobactam induced thrombocytopaenia a delayed response. BMJ Case Rep. 2012;2012:bcr0320125981.
Khoury S, Watson NC. Antibiotic-induced thrombocytopenia in the ICU: case report of a diagnostic challenge. 2012. https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/anesthesiology_pubs/116/. Accessed 28 Jun 2019.
Lin SY, Huang JC, Shen MC, Chuang SH, Lee MH, Chen HC. Piperacillin-induced thrombocytopenia reversed by high-flux hemodialysis in an uremic patient. Hemodial Int. 2012;16:S50–3.
Tomar GS, Agrawal RS, Kalyankar VB, Chawla S, Tiwari AK. Piperacillin/tazobactem induced epistaxis-a case report. J Anaesthesiol Clin Pharmacol. 2012;28(3):404–5.
Bose S, Wurm E, Popovich MJ, Silver BJ. Drug-induced immune-mediated thrombocytopenia in the intensive care unit. J Clin Anesth. 2015;27(7):602–5.
Shaik S, Kazi HA, Ender PT. Rapid-onset piperacillin–tazobactam induced thrombocytopenia. J Pharm Pract. 2015;28(2):204–6.
Nguyen VD, Tourigny JF, Roy R, Brouillette D. Rapid-onset thrombocytopenia following piperacillin–tazobactam reexposure. Pharmacotherapy. 2015;35(12):e326–30.
Boyce K, Brar H, Stabler SN. Piperacillin/tazobactam-induced immune-mediated thrombocytopenia in the intensive care unit. J Clin Pharm Ther. 2016;41(6):730–2.
Chen H, Fan Z, Guo F, Yang Y, Li J, Zhang J, et al. Tazobactam and piperacillin-induced thrombocytopenia: a case report. Exp Ther Med. 2016;11(4):1223–6.
Lee KW, Chow KM, Chan NP, Lo AO, Szeto CC. Piperacillin/tazobactam induced myelosuppression. J Clin Med Res. 2009;1(1):53–5.
Alzahrani M, Alrumaih I, Alhamad F, Abdel WA. Rapid onset severe thrombocytopenia following reexposure to piperacillin–tazobactam: report of two cases and review of the literature. Platelets. 2018;29(6):628–31.
Hron G, Knutson F, Thiele T, Althaus K, Busemann C, Friesecke S, et al. Alternative diagnosis to heparin-induced thrombocytopenia in two critically ill patients despite a positive PF4/heparin-antibody test. Ups J Med Sci. 2013;118(4):279–84.
Parekh M, Sheth S, Vaishnav B, Mangalampalli A. Delayed-type of hypersensitivity reaction due to piperacillin/tazobactam causing severe thrombocytopenia. Natl J Physiol Pharm Pharmacol. 2016;6(3):266–8.
Patel S, Levin-Epstein R, Kobashigawa J. Piperacillin-induced thrombocytopenia in a dual heart and kidney transplant patient: a case report. Transplant Proc. 2017;49(7):1672–4.
Masroujeh R, Bonder B, Mandviwala A, Abdulkader AH. Rapid near-fatal piperacillin/tazobactm-induced thrombocytopenia. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2018. https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1164/ajrccm-conference.2018.197.1_MeetingAbstracts.A6928. Accessed 28 Jun 2019.
ElSalem S, Elawad S, Ahmed A, AlSaadi M, AlHail M. A case of probable piperacillin/tazobactam-induced bone marrow suppression in a pregnant woman. Eur J Hosp Pharm Sci Pract. 2017;26(3):170-172.
Gerber L, Wing EJ. Life-threatening neutropenia secondary to piperacillin/tazobactam therapy. Clin Infect Dis. 1995;21(4):1047–8.
Ruiz-Irastorza G, Barreiro G, Aguirre C. Reversible bone marrow depression by high-dose piperacillin/tazobactam. Br J Haematol. 1996;95(4):611–2.
Kumar A, Choudhuri G, Aggarwal R. Piperacillin induced bone marrow suppression: a case report. BMC Clin Pharmacol. 2003;3(1):2.
Khan FY. Severe neutropenia secondary to piperacillin/tazobactam therapy. Indian J Pharmacol. 2005;37(3):192–3.
Abbas MT. Life-threatening neutropenia. J Clin Diagn Res. 2007;1(5):404–6.
Demiraslan H, Gürbüz S, Tomul ZD, Çelik I. Piperacillin/tazobactam-induced neutropenia: a case report. Mediterr J Infect Microb Antimicrob. 2012;1(2):1–3.
He ZF, Wu XA, Wang YP. Severe bone marrow suppression and hepatic dysfunction caused by piperacillin/tazobactam. Scand J Infect Dis. 2013;45(11):885–7.
Uzun G, Önem Y, Hatipoglu M, Turhan V, Mutluoglu M, Ay H. Piperacillin/tazobactam-induced neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and fever during treatment of a diabetic foot infection. Scand J Infect Dis. 2013;45(1):73–6.
Gupta A, Bastiampillai T, Moore B. Clozapine or antibiotic induced neutropenia? Austr Psychiatry. 2016;24(4):400.
Darwiche D, Iskandar K, Azar R, Hallit R, Hallit S. piperacillin–tazobactam-induced neutropenia: a case report. J Med Cases. 2017;8(9):280–2.
Lambourne J, Kitchen J, Hughes C, Merry C. Piperacillin/tazobactam–induced paresthesiae. Ann Pharmacother. 2006;40(5):977–9.
Behbahani R, Kostman JR. Hypersensitivity reaction during prolonged use of piperacillin/tazobactam in treatment of osteomyelitis. Ann Pharmacother. 1995;29(9):936–7.
Riedl MA, Casillas AM. Adverse drug reactions: types and treatment options. Am Fam Physician. 2003;68(9):1781–94.
Mayer B, Bartolmäs T, Yürek S, Salama A. Variability of findings in drug-induced immune haemolytic anaemia: experience over 20 years in a single centre. Transfus Med Hemother. 2015;42(5):333–9.
Garratty G. Drug-induced immune hemolytic anemia. Hematol Am Soc Hematol Educ Program. 2009;2009(1):73–9.
Garratty G. Immune hemolytic anemia associated with drug therapy. Blood Rev. 2010;24(4–5):143–50.
Garratty G, Arndt PA. An update on drug-induced immune hemolytic anemia. Immunohematology. 2007;23(3):105–19.
Wright MFA, Bush A, Carr SB. Hypersensitivity reactions to intravenous antibiotics in cystic fibrosis. Paediatr Respir Rev. 2018;27:9–12.
Leger RM, Arndt PA, Garratty G. Serological studies of piperacillin antibodies. Transfusion. 2008;48(11):2429–34.
Hill QA, Stamps R, Massey E, Grainger JD, Provan D, Hill A. Guidelines on the management of drug-induced immune and secondary autoimmune, haemolytic anaemia. Br J Haematol. 2017;177(2):208–20.
Anderson D, Ali K, Blanchette V, Brouwers M, Couban S, Radmoor P, et al. Guidelines on the use of intravenous immune globulin for hematologic conditions. Transfus Med Rev. 2007;21(2 suppl 1):S9–56.
Mitta A, Curtis BR, Reese JA, George JN. Drug-induced thrombocytopenia: 2019 update of clinical and laboratory data. Am J Hematol. 2019;94(3):E76–8.
Lo E, Deane S. Diagnosis and classification of immune-mediated thrombocytopenia. Autoimmun Rev. 2014;13(4–5):577–83.
Scheetz MH, McKoy JM, Parada JP, Djulbegovic B, Raisch DW, Yarnold PR, et al. Systematic review of piperacillin-induced neutropenia. Drug Saf. 2007;30(4):295–306.
Reichardt P, Handrick W, Linke A, Schille R, Kiess W. Leukocytopenia, thrombocytopenia and fever related to piperacillin/tazobactam treatment-a retrospective analysis in 38 children with cytic fibrosis. Infection. 1999;27(6):355–6.
Peralta FG, Sanchez MB, Roiz MP, Pena MA, Tejero MA, Arjona R. Incidence of neutropenia during treatment of bone-related infections with piperacillin–tazobactam. Clin Infect Dis. 2003;37(11):1568–72.
Benli A, Şimşek-Yavuz S, Başaran S, Çağatay A, Özsüt H, Eraksoy H. Hematologic adverse effects of prolonged piperacillin–tazobactam use in adults. Turk J Haematol. 2018;35(4):290–5.
Andrès E, Mourot-Cottet R. Non-chemotherapy drug-induced neutropenia-an update. Expert Opin Drug Saf. 2017;16(11):1235–42.
Acknowledgements
None.
Funding
This work was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province under Grant No. 17JR5RA271.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this study.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, Q., He, Z., Wu, X. et al. Hematologic adverse effects induced by piperacillin–tazobactam: a systematic review of case reports. Int J Clin Pharm 42, 1026–1035 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-020-01071-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-020-01071-8