What is known about teratogenic risk for the drugs furazolidone and dicycloverine?/nBackground: A 2

Fråga: What is known about teratogenic risk for the drugs furazolidone and dicycloverine?

Background: A 26-year-old female in week six of pregnancy has been treated for diarrhoea in India with furazolidone and dicycloverine. The dosage is unknown to the questioner. The patient is concerned about the teratogenic risk.

Sammanfattning: We have found no reports of teratogenic effects from furazolidone and dicycloverine. The risk to the fetus is, therefore, hard to estimate. In general, exposure during the first three to four weeks after conception can be expected to lead to an all-or-none effect with an early miscarriage if the fetus has been harmed (4).

Svar: Furazolidone is a monoaminooxidase inhibitor with antiprotozoal and antibacterial activity. It is not registered in Sweden. Furazolidone is used in giardiasis and other bacterial intestinal infection (1). No reports linking the use of furazolidone with congenital defects have been found in the literature (2). Dicycloverine is an extempero anticholinergic drug with an antispasmolytic effect on the smooth muscles in the gastrointestinal tract. It is prescribed in Sweden as an mixture containing one mg per ml with the indication infant cholic symptoms. Dicycloverine has been used for many years. No reports have been found for dicycloverine and congenital malformations in the literature (2). However, in Sweden it is not recommended that dicycloverine be given to children under one month of age. Convulsions have been reported (3).