Hoarseness Caused by Glucocorticoids

Hoarseness—Causes and Treatments by Prof. Dr. med. Rudolf Reiter, Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Karl Hoffmann, Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. Anja Pickhard, and Prof. Dr. med. Sibylle Brosch in issue 19/2015

Reversible hoarseness, which may occur after systemic administration of glucocorticoids, is not included in the list of causes of dysphonia provided by the authors (1). In my experience, patients already experience this type of dysphonia within 24 hours after oral administration. This side effect is neither mentioned in the German Red List (“Rote Liste”, a comprehensive list of medications approved in Germany) nor in the manufacturers’ package inserts and only sporadically found in internal medicine textbooks (2). To be able to differentiate between disease-related (e.g. an internal condition) and treatment-related side effects, it is important to be aware of this adverse drug reaction.

DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.2016.0070a

Prof. Dr. med. Hanns Detlev Schoen

Radioonkologie i. R. Stuttgart, Germany

Conflict of interest statement

The author declares that no conflict of interest exists.

References

1. Reiter R, Hoffmann TK, Pickhard A, Brosch S: Hoarseness—causes and treatments. Dtsch Arztebl Int 2015; 112: 329–37

2. Furger PH: Innere Quick Medizin. Stuttgart: Thieme Verlag. 4. eds. 2015.