LACTIC-ACIDOSIS AND LIVER MITOCHONDRIAL A LTERATIONS DURING A TREATMENT WITH ZIDOVUDINE

Adverse effects of zidovudine, which mainly result in myopathies and h ematological disorders, could be due to multitissular mitochondrial to xicity of the drug. During zidovudine treatment, most cases of lactic acidosis have been attributed to mitochondrial myopathy. We report a c ase of hepatocellular failure with lactic acidosis in a 33 year-old pa tient with the human immunodeficiency virus infection and treated with zidovudine for 8 months. Liver biopsy showed massive macrovacuolar st eatosis and ultrastructural mitochondrial abnormalities similar to tho se previously described in the skeletal muscle. This is the second rep orted case of lactic acidosis and hepatocellular failure which is prob ably related to hepatic mitochondrial dysfunction caused by zidovudine .