Captopril - Warnings and Precautions
The following warnings and precautions are taken directly from the US FDA-approved drug label for Captopril. This is the same information dispensing pharmacists read.
\u26a0\ufe0f Boxed Warning (Highest FDA Alert)
BOXED WARNING USE IN PREGNANCY When used in pregnancy during the second and third trimesters, ACE Inhibitors can cause injury and even death to the developing fetus. When pregnancy is detected, captopril and hydrochlorothiazide should be discontinued as soon as possible. See WARNINGS: Captopril: Fetal/Neonatal Morbidity and Mortality .
WARNINGS Captopril : Anaphylactoid and Possible Related Reactions : Presumably because angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors affect the metabolism of eicosanoids and polypeptides, including endogenous bradykinin, patients receiving ACE inhibitors (including captopril) may be subject to a variety of adverse reactions, some of them serious.
Head and Neck Angioedema : Angioedema involving the extremities, face, lips, mucous membranes, tongue, glottis or larynx has been seen in patients treated with ACE inhibitors, including captopril.
If angioedema involves the tongue, glottis or larynx, airway obstruction may occur and be fatal.
Emergency therapy, including but not necessarily limited to, subcutaneous administration of a 1:1000 solution of epinephrine should be promptly instituted.
Swelling confined to the face, mucous membranes of the mouth, lips and extremities has usually resolved with discontinuation of treatment; some cases required medical therapy. (See PRECAUTIONS: Information for Patients and ADVERSE REACTIONS: Captopril .) Intestinal Angioedema : Intestinal angioedema has been reported in patients treated with ACE inhibitors.
These patients presented with abdominal pain (with or without nausea or vomiting); in some cases there was no prior history of facial angioedema and C-1 esterase levels were normal.
The angioedema was diagnosed by procedures including abdominal CT scan or ultrasound, or at surgery, and symptoms resolved after stopping the ACE inhibitor.
Intestinal angioedema should be included in the differential diagnosis of patients on ACE inhibitors presenting with abdominal pain.
Anaphylactoid Reactions During Desensitization : Two patients undergoing desensitizing treatment with hymenoptera venom while receiving ACE inhibitors sustained life-threatening anaphylactoid reactions.
In the same patients, these reactions were avoided when ACE inhibitors were temporarily withheld, but they reappeared upon inadvertent rechallenge.
Anaphylactoid Reactions During Membrane Exposure : Anaphylactoid reactions have been reported in patients dialyzed with high-flux membranes and treated concomitantly with an ACE inhibitor.
Anaphylactoid reactions have also been reported in patients undergoing low-density lipoprotein apheresis with dextran sulfate absorption.
Neutropenia/Agranulocytosis : Neutropenia (< 1000/mm 3 ) with myeloid hypoplasia has resulted from use of captopril.
About half of the neutropenic patients developed systemic or oral cavity infections or other features of the syndrome of agranulocytosis.
The risk of neutropenia is dependent on the clinical status of the patient: In clinical trials in patients with hypertension who have normal renal function (serum creatinine less than 1.6 mg/dL and no collagen vascular disease), neutropenia has been seen in one patient out of over 8,600 exposed.
In patients with some degree of renal failure (serum creatinine at least 1.6 mg/dL) but no collagen vascular disease, the risk of neutropenia in clinical trials was about 1 per 500, a frequency over 15 times that for uncomplicated hypertension.
Daily doses of captopril were relatively high in these patients, particularly in view of their diminished renal function.
In foreign marketing experience in patients with renal failure, use of allopurinol concomitantly with captopril has been associated with neutropenia but this association has not appeared in U.S. reports.
In patients with collagen vascular diseases (e.g., systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma) and impaired renal function, neutropenia occurred in 3.7 percent of patients in clinical trials.
While none of the over 750 patients in formal clinical trials of heart failure developed neutropenia, it has occurred during the subsequent clinical experience.
About half of the reported cases had serum creatinine ≥ 1.6 mg/dL and more than 75 percent were in patients also receiving procainamide.
In heart failure, it appears that the same risk factors for neutropenia are present.
The neutropenia has usually been detected within three months after captopril was started.
Bone marrow examinations in patients with neutropenia consistently showed myeloid hypoplasia, frequently accompanied by erythroid hypoplasia and decreased numbers of megakaryocytes (e.g., hypoplastic bone marrow and pancytopenia); anemia and thrombocytopenia were sometimes seen.
In general, neutrophils returned to normal in about two weeks after captopril was discontinued, and serious infections were limited to clinically complex patients.
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