ABSTRACT
Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs are a heterogeneous group of compounds, often chemically unrelated, which nevertheless share many therapeutic actions and side effects and have, as their major therapeutic use, the management of several types of rheumatic diseases. The side effects are of varying degrees of severity, including gastrointestinal irritation, skin hypersensitivity reactions, blood dyscrasias, and renal and hepatic impairment. A number of clinical studies have reported the hepatotoxicity of several drugs of this group in patients with no previous history of hepatic diseases. Recently, five cases of hepatitis associated with a commonly used NSAID, diclofenac, have been published. This had led to the withdrawal of some of these drugs (ibufenac, fenclozic acid, benoxaprofen) from clinical use. Hepatic alterations have also been reported with naproxen and piroxicam.
