Fluoroquinolone-induced tendinopathy: What do we know?

Fluoroquinolones are relatively safe, effective antibiotics. As their use b ecomes more frequent, so will the adverse side effects. I highlight a rare but debilitating adverse reaction-fluoroquinolone-induced tendinopathy. Cas e reports and letters from 1987 to 1998 were identified by using Grateful M ed and PubMed Internet accesses to the National Library of Medicine. Articl es were reviewed for clinical practicality. There are few articles on fluor oquinolone-induced tendinopathy in the US literature targeting primary care physicians. This entity has been described in many case reports, but littl e has been done to isolate the causative agents. Incidence of this side eff ect is difficult to estimate, since no prospective studies are available fo r review or calculation of risk. Fluoroquinolone-induced tendinopathy appea rs more commonly in tendons under high stress. The cause is probably multif actorial. Risk factors for the development of fluoroquinolone-induced tendi nopathy are age, renal failure, corticosteroid use, and previous tendinopat hy from fluoroquinolones.