Sergio Muntoni1, Marcos Rojkind, Sandro Muntoni. 1. Centre for Metabolic Diseases and Atherosclerosis, The Metabolic Diseases and their Complications Association, Viale Trento 27/A, 09123 Cagliari, Italy. sergiomuntoni@hotmail.com
Abstract
AIM: To test whether colchicine would be an effective antifibrotic agent for treatment of chronic liver diseases in patients who could not be treated with alpha-interferon. METHODS:Seventy-four patients (46 males, 28 females) aged 40-66 years (mean 53 +/- 13 years) participated in the study. The patients were affected by chronic liver diseases with cirrhosis which was proven histologically (n = 58); by chronic active hepatitis C (n = 4), chronic active hepatitis B (n = 2), and chronic persistent hepatitis C (n = 6). In the four patients lacking histology, cirrhosis was diagnosed from anamnesis, serum laboratory tests, esophageal varices and ascites. Patients were assigned to colchicine (1 mg/d) or standard treatment as control in a randomized, double-blind trial, and followed for 4.4 years with clinical and laboratory evaluation. RESULTS:Survival at the end of the study was 94.6% in the colchicine group and 78.4% in the control group (P = 0.001). Serum N-terminal peptide of typeIII procollagen levels fell from 34.0 to 18.3 ng/mL (P = 0.0001), and pseudocholinesterase levels rose from 4.900 to 5.610 mU/mL (P = 0.0001) in the colchicine group, while no significant change was seen in controls. Best results were obtained in patients with chronic hepatitis C and in alcoholic cirrhotics. CONCLUSION:Colchicine is an effective and safe antifibrotic drug for long-term treatment of chronic liver disease in which fibrosis progresses towards cirrhosis.
RCT Entities:
AIM: To test whether colchicine would be an effective antifibrotic agent for treatment of chronic liver diseases in patients who could not be treated with alpha-interferon. METHODS: Seventy-four patients (46 males, 28 females) aged 40-66 years (mean 53 +/- 13 years) participated in the study. The patients were affected by chronic liver diseases with cirrhosis which was proven histologically (n = 58); by chronic active hepatitis C (n = 4), chronic active hepatitis B (n = 2), and chronic persistent hepatitis C (n = 6). In the four patients lacking histology, cirrhosis was diagnosed from anamnesis, serum laboratory tests, esophageal varices and ascites. Patients were assigned to colchicine (1 mg/d) or standard treatment as control in a randomized, double-blind trial, and followed for 4.4 years with clinical and laboratory evaluation. RESULTS: Survival at the end of the study was 94.6% in the colchicine group and 78.4% in the control group (P = 0.001). Serum N-terminal peptide of type III procollagen levels fell from 34.0 to 18.3 ng/mL (P = 0.0001), and pseudocholinesterase levels rose from 4.900 to 5.610 mU/mL (P = 0.0001) in the colchicine group, while no significant change was seen in controls. Best results were obtained in patients with chronic hepatitis C and in alcoholic cirrhotics. CONCLUSION:Colchicine is an effective and safe antifibrotic drug for long-term treatment of chronic liver disease in which fibrosis progresses towards cirrhosis.
Authors: Timothy R Morgan; David G Weiss; Bernard Nemchausky; Eugene R Schiff; Bhupinder Anand; Francis Simon; Jayashri Kidao; Bennet Cecil; Charles L Mendenhall; Douglas Nelson; Charles Lieber; Marcos Pedrosa; Lennox Jeffers; John Bloor; Lawrence Lumeng; Luis Marsano; Craig McClain; Girish Mishra; Brent Myers; Maria Leo; Yelena Ponomarenko; Derek Taylor; Antonio Chedid; Samuel French; Gary Kanel; Natalie Murray; Paul Pinto; Tse-Ling Fong; Mike R Sather Journal: Gastroenterology Date: 2005-04 Impact factor: 22.682
Authors: O N Chappey; E Niel; J L Wautier; P P Hung; M Dervichian; D Cattan; J M Scherrmann Journal: Clin Pharmacol Ther Date: 1993-10 Impact factor: 6.875