A 7-year-old boy presented to the hematology–oncology clinic for treatment of severe aplastic anemia. What drug lead to gum hypertrophy shown in this photo?
Cyclosporine. Several months after cyclosporine was started gum hypertrophy developed. When cyclosporine was weaned off, the adverse effect resolved. Two years later when the patient had disease reoccurrence, cyclosporine was restarted, gum hypertrophy developed again and progressed in severity to the extent that hypertrophic gum tissue completely covered the patient’s incisors. Cyclosporine again was weaned off and the adverse effect subsided.
Menon BS, The KH. Gum Hypertrophy from Cyclosporine N Engl J Med 2021; 384:744. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMicm2026082
Submitted by: Jennifer Splawski, PharmD, MS, BCPS on behalf of Acute and Intensive Care Section