Carbamazepine and Fatal Eosinophilic Myocarditis

Abstract

To the Editor: We describe a 13-year-old boy with attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder in whom fever, rash, conjunctivitis, hepatitis, myocarditis, and eosinophilia developed and who died about two months after the start of carbamazepine therapy. The cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) of this patient was reported in an article on transvenous right ventricular pacing during CPR in children with acute cardiomyopathy.1 The child was an inpatient on a psychiatric unit. His carbamazepine treatment (100 mg twice a day) was initiated for aggressive and impulsive behavior after he did not respond to methylphenidate and clonidine. The carbamaz-epine dose was gradually increased to 800 mg . . .