Abdominal cramping can be side effect of travoprost use

Use of topical travoprost was apparently the cause of severe abdominal cramping in a female patient with open-angle glaucoma, according to a recent case report.

While flu-like symptoms such as abdominal cramps and malaise were reported in 4% of patients using travoprost during clinical trials of the drug, those symptoms have rarely been reported in studies since the drug’s approval, noted Yuan-Chieh Lee, MD, of the Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital in Taiwan.

He described a case in which a female patient suffered abdominal cramping about 30 minutes after topical application of travoprost on 3 consecutive days. When the medication was substituted with another glaucoma drug or with saline, no abdominal cramping developed. The cramping returned when the patient was rechallenged with travoprost, either in the travoprost bottle or in other glaucoma medication bottles.

The case report is published in the January issue of American Journal of Ophthalmology.