The parents of a UK teenager who died of a pulmonary embolism said other parents should be aware that certain acne medication can carry a higher risk of developing deep venal thrombosis, DVT, a type of blood clot that can be fatal.

Held at the Coroner’s Court in Maidstone, the inquest into the death of of Charlotte Porter, a 17-year old A-level student from Allington, Kent, found that she died from natural causes, but she probably had an undiagnosed DVT in her leg when she visited her GP two weeks before she died at 10 pm on 29 March 2010, reports the Daily Mail.

The inquest heard how Charlotte, an active member of her school’s cheerleading team, had noticed her leg was swollen and turning purple a few hours before her death, while she was attending lessons at Maplesden Noakes School in Maidstone.

She texted her mother, Beverly Porter, describing she had pain and swelling all down her leg, and her mother took her to Maidstone hospital’s emergency department in the afternoon.

Charlotte died at the hospital, later that same day, of a pulmonary embolism (which can often result when a piece from a blood clot elsewhere breaks off and travels to the blood vessels in the lungs), after doctors tried to treat her for two hours.

The inquest was told how the teenager suddenly collapsed unconscious in the hospital corridor, moments after she had been “joking and laughing” with her friends and family.

Two weeks earlier Charlotte had visited her GP, complaining of a lump in her left leg.

Her family have linked her death to Dianette, a prescription medication for acne, which is also effective as a contraceptive, although it is not indicated solely for that use.

Dianette contains two active ingredients, cyproterone acetate, a progestogen derivative, and ethinylestradiol, a synthetic version of the naturally-occurring female hormone, estrogen. It is the synthetic estrogen that causes the pill to carry an increased risk of DVT, especially during periods of prolonged immobility or inactivity.

Giving evidence, Charlotte’s GP said she had not shown symptoms of DVT and prescribed anti-inflammatories. However, an independent expert, Dr Nigel Langford, told the inquest that he thought Charlotte probably did have some kind of clot.

Charlotte’s mother said the doctors had told them it was very rare for someone so young to develop a blood clot.

“It goes without saying that Charlotte’s death has devastated my family and me,” she said, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

Describing her daughter as as “full of life”, and “always on the go”, she said, “If she was 71 years old, not 17, then you would expect that sort of thing.”

Beverly Porter urged all parents of young girls taking Dianette to make themselves aware of the risks of the drug, and particularly, the raised risk of DVT.

Sources: Daily Mail, NHS Clinical Knowledge Summaries.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD