Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Sep;4(5):810-6.
doi: 10.4103/2141-9248.141562.

Pentoxifylline Plus Prednisolone versus Pentoxifylline Only for Severe Alcoholic Hepatitis: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Bk De  1 , Sk Mandal  1 , D Sau  1 , S Mani  1 , S Chatterjee  1 , Ss Mondal  1 , K Bhattacharya  1 , K Sil  1 , R Bhattacharya  1
Affiliations

Pentoxifylline Plus Prednisolone versus Pentoxifylline Only for Severe Alcoholic Hepatitis: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Bk De et al. Ann Med Health Sci Res. 2014 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Prednisolone and pentoxifylline (PTX) have been shown to be individually useful in severe alcoholic hepatitis with Maddrey discriminant function (MDF) score ≥32. Previous report suggests that PTX is probably superior to prednisolone alone. However the efficacy of PTX and prednisolone combination over PTX alone in the management of acute alcoholic hepatitis (MDF score ≥32) is yet unrevealed.

Aim: The present study was initiated to find out the efficacy of combined pentoxifylline and prednisolone versus PTX alone in acute alcoholic hepatitis in respect of short and intermediate term outcomes.

Subjects and methods: A total of 124 patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis (MDF score ≥ 32) initially were evaluated. 62 patients who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria were randomized and divided into 2 groups. Group 1 received PTX only, whereas Group 2 received PTX plus Prednisolone. The total duration of follow-up was 12 months. Student's t-test, Chi-square test, the Kaplan-Meier methods were used for statistical analysis.

Results: A total of 60 patients, 30 in each group were available for final analysis. In Group-1, 6 patients expired at the end of 1 year (5 within 3 months and another after 3 months). In Group 2, 10 patients expired at the end of 1 year (9 within 3 months and another after 3 months). Though survival probability is higher among Group 1 patients but the difference is not statistically significant.

Conclusion: The combination of PTX plus Prednisolone yields no additional benefit in terms of mortality and morbidity from that of PTX monotherapy.

Keywords: Alcoholic hepatitis; Maddrey discriminant function score; Pentoxifylline; Prednisolone.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Survival curves (Kaplan-Meier life table analysis) of patients receiving pentoxifylline (PTX) (Group – 1) as compared to patients receiving PTX plus prednisolone (Group – 2), at the end of 3 months of therapy
Figure 2
Figure 2
Survival curves (Kaplan-Meier life table analysis) of patients receiving pentoxifylline (PTX) (Group – 1) as compared to patients receiving PTX plus prednisolone (Group – 2), at the end of 1 year of therapy
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Balakrishnan R, Allender S, Scarborough P, Webster P, Rayner M. The burden of alcohol-related ill health in the United Kingdom. J Public Health (Oxf) 2009;31:366–73. - PubMed
    1. Méndez-Sánchez N, García-Villegas E, Merino-Zeferino B, Ochoa-Cruz S, Villa AR, Madrigal H, et al. Liver diseases in Mexico and their associated mortality trends from 2000 to 2007: A retrospective study of the nation and the federal states. Ann Hepatol. 2010;9:428–38. - PubMed
    1. Burra P, Senzolo M, Adam R, Delvart V, Karam V, Germani G, et al. Liver transplantation for alcoholic liver disease in Europe: A study from the ELTR (European Liver Transplant Registry) Am J Transplant. 2010;10:138–48. - PubMed
    1. Waki K, Tamura S, Sugawara Y, Yamashiki N, Kadowaki T, Kokudo N. An analysis of the OPTN/UNOS liver transplant registry. Clin Transpl. 2009:55–64. - PubMed
    1. Adachi M, Brenner DA. Clinical syndromes of alcoholic liver disease. Dig Dis. 2005;23:255–63. - PubMed