Imaging in Drug Side Effects

Drug side effects are common in clinical practice and its diagnosis and radiologic manifestations are not always evident or known. Adverse effects may cause medical complications and negatively affect prognosis and outcome of patients. In this setting, an early diagnosis might have relevant clinical and therapeutic implications. Different studies have shown that adverse drug reactions related hospital admissions comprise up to 10% of the total number of hospitalizations and are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in adults. Most adverse drugs reactions have no distinctive radiological features. However, certain iatrogenic disorders have distinctive imaging characteristics that allow their recognition. We illustrate the imaging findings of drugs side effects and review those complications that radiologists may diagnose.