Savvidou Savvoula, Goulis John, Giavazis Ignatios, Patsiaoura Kalliopi, Hytiroglou Prodromos, Arvanitakis Constantine
4th Department of Internal Medicine, Hippocration General Hospital of Thessaloniki, Medical School of Aristotle University, Greece.
Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2007 Jun;19(6):507-11. doi: 10.1097/01.meg.0000252634.26538.eb.
Herbal medicinal products are being increasingly used throughout the world. Herbal 'remedies' are, however, not risk free and many cases of hepatotoxicity have been reported. Teucrium polium grows mostly in the Mediterranean basin and is popular, because of hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic properties. We report two cases of T. polium-induced hepatitis in Greek female patients, who used the plant's extract to control the cholesterol levels. Both patients presented with very high aminotransferases after consuming herbal tea for 2 or 3 months. One patient also developed jaundice. Histologic examination of liver biopsies showed hepatitis with moderate or severe necroinflammatory activity. Discontinuation of the herbal remedy resulted in normalization of the liver enzymes in both patients. Our findings, and those of other authors, suggest that T. polium may not be safer than T. chamaedrys and T. capitatum, which have also been reported to occasionally cause hepatotoxicity.
草药产品在全球范围内的使用越来越广泛。然而，草药“疗法”并非没有风险，已有许多肝毒性病例的报道。绵毛石蚕主要生长在地中海盆地，因其降血糖和降血脂特性而广受欢迎。我们报告了两例希腊女性患者因绵毛石蚕导致肝炎的病例，她们使用该植物提取物来控制胆固醇水平。两名患者在饮用草药茶2或3个月后均出现转氨酶大幅升高。其中一名患者还出现了黄疸。肝脏活检的组织学检查显示为具有中度或重度坏死性炎症活动的肝炎。停用草药疗法后，两名患者的肝酶均恢复正常。我们的研究结果以及其他作者的研究结果表明，绵毛石蚕可能并不比同样偶尔被报道会引起肝毒性的石蚕属植物和头状石蚕更安全。
