Case Report: Acute renal failure due to fenofibrate monotherapy

Rhabdomyolysis is a clinical and biochemical syndrome resulting from skeletal muscle injury and the release muscular cell constituents into extracellular fluid and the circulation (1). Rhabdomyolysis occurs due to drugs, toxins, ischemia and infections. Drug induced rhabdomyolysis mostly occurs with statins but rarely with fibrates. Fibrates are widely used for the treatment of hypertriglyceridemia and generally well tolerated (2, 3). Acute renal failure (ARF) secondary to rhabdomyolysis is an unusual but serious adverse effect with fibrate (especially fenofibrate) monotherapy, usually occurs when fibrates are combined with statins (4, 5). We herein report a diabetic female patient who developed ARF secondary to rhabdomyolysis induced by fenofibrate monotherapy and also compared our patient’s clinical and laboratory features with other cases reported in the literature (4, 6) (Table 1).