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Liraglutide and Liver Injury: Rare Case Report with Literature Review.

Endocr Metab Immune Disord Drug Targets · 2024

Last updated 2026-05-28

A 41-year-old woman with type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and hypertension experienced liver damage while taking liraglutide, a GLP-1 drug. After stopping liraglutide, her liver function tests improved and returned to normal within two months. Doctors ruled out other causes like autoimmune hepatitis before concluding the liver injury was likely due to liraglutide.

AI summary of the abstract below.

JournalEndocr Metab Immune Disord Drug Targets, 2024
Citations2
Relative citation ratio0.41
NIH percentile25
Molecules liraglutide
Conditions studied Mash

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Liraglutide is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). So far, few severe side effects have been reported for it. CASE PRESENTATION: A 41-year-old woman was admitted to the Emergency Room with diffuse abdominal pain. The patient had a known case of T2DM, fatty liver disease, and hypertension and was treated with Metformin, Liraglutide, and Losartan. Her liver functional test (LFT) was consistent with hepatocellular injury; however, laboratory tests and abdominal ultrasound were used to rule out autoimmune hepatitis. Due to concerns for drug-induced liver injury (DILL), liraglutide was discontinued and N-acetyl cysteine was prescribed. On the fifth day of hospitalization, the patient's symptoms resolved and his LFT started to decrease on the sixth day after 2 months, the patient's liver enzyme levels returned to normal. CONCLUSION: Liraglutide is one of the most important drugs in the treatment of T2DM.The most common side effects of this drug are constipation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, indigestion, and loss of appetite. In rare cases, symptoms of thyroid cancer, pancreatitis, and hypoglycemia have been reported, however, DILL is one of the extremely rare side effect of Liraglutide. It is important to increase the awareness of physicians about the liver injury of Liraglutide.

Verbatim abstract via PubMed 37885115 ↗

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