New medical research suggests that patients who take Levaquin and other fluoroquinolone antibiotics may be at risk for two potentially life-threatening side effects – aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection.

According to these studies, Levaquin side effects may raise an individual’s chances for these complications significantly.

What is Levaquin?

Levaquin, which is marketed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, is in a class of antibiotic drugs known as fluoroquinolones. Fluoroquinolones may be prescribed to treat a variety of infections, including chlamydia, bronchitis, Legionnaires’ disease, pneumonia and food poisoning caused by salmonella bacteria.

Other infectious conditions such as skin rashes, ear infections, respiratory ailments, sinusitis, infectious diarrhea and urinary tract infections might also be treated with fluoroquinolones like Levaquin.

Aortic Aneurysm and Aortic Dissection

Aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection cause approximately 15,000 deaths in the U.S. every year. An aortic aneurysm is an enlargement of the aorta that causes weakness in the aortic wall.

They often cause no symptoms until they rupture, at which time a victim will experience massive and life-threatening internal bleeding.

Aortic dissection occurs when the wall of the aorta tears. As the tear extends along the wall of the aorta, blood can flow in between the layers of the blood vessel wall (dissection). This can lead to rupture or decreased blood flow to vital organs.

How are Aortic Aneurysm, Dissection Tied with Levaquin?

Fluoroquinolones, like Levaquin, have long been associated with tendinitis and tendon ruptures. The drugs degrade collagen in the tendons, causing the tendon to weaken. The same kind of collagen that is found in tendons also comprises the majority of collagen found in the walls of the aorta.

This led researchers to suspect that drugs like Levaquin might cause the walls of the aorta to degrade.

A study published in the November 2015 issue of JAMA: Internal Medicine examined 1,477 patients who had been hospitalized for aortic aneurysm or aortic dissection.

Each patient was matched to 100 control subjects of the same age and sex. Data was taken from a research database that followed the patients over a period of 11 years.

The study examined whether patients had filled a fluoroquinolone prescription within 60 days of being hospitalized with an aortic aneurysm or aortic dissection. The study also looked at aortic aneurysm or aortic dissection patients who had filled a fluoroquinolone prescription within one year of hospitalization.

The study found that fluoroquinolone use was associated with hospitalization for an aortic aneurysm or dissection. The association was strongest when fluoroquinolones were taken within 60 days of hospitalization, but the association continued to be statistically significant when the drugs were taken at any time within one year prior to hospitalization.

The study concluded that fluoroquinolones are associated with an increased risk of developing an aortic aneurysm or an aortic dissection.

A second 2015 study conducted by Canadian researchers and published in the British Medical Journal examined a population of 1.7 million older adults over a period of 15 years.

Apart from confirming the association between fluoroquinolone use and tendon rupture, the study found that taking fluoroquinolones increased the risk of having an aortic aneurysm and, to a lesser but statistically significant extent, increased the risk of experiencing an aortic dissection.

The researchers concluded that taking a fluoroquinolone was associated with a tripling of the risk of developing an aortic aneurysm.

Any patient who experienced an aortic aneurysm or dissection after taking Levaquin, as well as surviving family members of a patient who died from one of those conditions after taking a fluoroquinolone, should consult a personal injury attorney who handles lawsuits against drug companies.

Victims of aortic aneurysm or dissection associated with Levaquin side effects may be entitled to compensation.