Halothane hepatitis. Detection of a constitutional susceptibility factor.

We studied susceptibility to halothane hepatitis with an in vitro test that detects cell damage from electrophilic drug intermediates. Metabolites of phenytoin were generated by incubation of phenytoin with rat hepatic microsomes in the presence of the epoxide hydrolase inhibitor 1,1,1-trichloropropene oxide (TCPO), which prevents the further metabolism of phenytoin to an inert metabolite. In lymphocytes exposed to this system, cytotoxicity was measured by trypan blue dye exclusion and was expressed as the percentage increase in trypan blue-positive cells after the addition of TCPO. In the presence of TCPO, lymphocytes from 11 patients with halothane hepatitis exhibited an increase in cytotoxicity at 0.06 mM phenytoin that was eight times greater than the increase in healthy controls (54 +/- 10 per cent [mean +/- S.E.M.] vs. 7.1 +/- 2.2 per cent, P less than 0.0001). Patients with other liver diseases and persons recently exposed to halothane without adverse effects did not differ from healthy controls. In three patients with halothane hepatitis who were studied serially, the lymphocyte abnormality was still present after 13 months. Family studies revealed abnormal results on 10 cytotoxicity tests among 19 members of four families. We propose that there is a familial, constitutional susceptibility factor that predisposes persons to halothane hepatitis.