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Pentoxifylline for alcoholic hepatitis.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Alcoholic hepatitis is a life-threatening disease, with an average mortality of approximately 40%. There is no widely accepted, effective treatment for alcoholic hepatitis. Pentoxifylline is used to treat alcoholic hepatitis, but there has been no systematic review to assess its effects. OBJECTIVES:To assess the benefits and harms of pentoxifylline in alcoholic hepatitis. SEARCH STRATEGY:The Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Group Controlled Trials Register, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Science Citation Index Expanded, LILACS, clinicaltrials.gov, and full text searches were conducted until August 2009. Manufacturers and authors were contacted. SELECTION CRITERIA:All randomised clinical trials of pentoxifylline in participants with alcoholic hepatitis compared to control were selected for inclusion. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS:Two authors extracted data and evaluated the risk of bias. RevMan Analysis was used for statistical analysis of dichotomous data with risk ratio (RR) and of continuous data with mean difference (MD), both with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Trial sequential analysis (TSA) was also used for statistical analysis of dichotomous and continuous data in order to control for random error. Where data were only available from one trial, we used Fisher's exact test or Student's t-test. MAIN RESULTS:Five trials, with a total of 336 randomised participants, were included. A total of 105 participants (31%) died. Of the five included trials, four (80%) had a high risk of bias. Meta-analysis using all five trials showed that pentoxifylline reduced mortality compared with control (RR 0.64; 95% CI 0.46 to 0.89). However, this result was not supported by trial sequential analysis, which adjusts for multiple testing on accumulating data. Furthermore, four of the five trials were judged to have a high risk of bias, thus risking an overestimated intervention effect. Meta-analysis showed that pentoxifylline reduced the hepatic-related mortality due to hepatorenal syndrome (RR 0.40; 95% CI 0.22 to 0.71), but trial sequential analysis did not support this result. Data from one trial suggests that pentoxifylline may increase the occurrence of serious and non-serious adverse events compared to control. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS:The current available data may indicate a possible positive intervention effect of pentoxifylline on all-cause mortality and mortality due to hepatorenal syndrome, and conversely, an increase in serious and non-serious adverse events. However, the evidence is not firm; no conclusions can be drawn regarding whether pentoxifylline has a positive, negative, or neutral effect on participants with alcoholic hepatitis.

SUBMITTER: Whitfield K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6769169 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Pentoxifylline for alcoholic hepatitis.

Whitfield Kate K Rambaldi Andrea A Wetterslev Jørn J Gluud Christian C

The Cochrane database of systematic reviews 20091007 4

<h4>Background</h4>Alcoholic hepatitis is a life-threatening disease, with an average mortality of approximately 40%. There is no widely accepted, effective treatment for alcoholic hepatitis. Pentoxifylline is used to treat alcoholic hepatitis, but there has been no systematic review to assess its effects.<h4>Objectives</h4>To assess the benefits and harms of pentoxifylline in alcoholic hepatitis.<h4>Search strategy</h4>The Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Group Controlled Trials Register, The Cochrane C ...[more]

PMID: 19821406

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Project description:Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) is a distinct presentation of alcoholic liver disease arising in patients who have been drinking to excess for prolonged periods, which is characterised by jaundice and liver failure. Severe disease is associated with high short-term mortality. Prednisolone and pentoxifylline (PTX) are recommended in guidelines for treatment of severe AH, but trials supporting their use have given heterogeneous results and controversy persists about their benefit.The aim of the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of STeroids Or Pentoxifylline for Alcoholic Hepatitis trial was to resolve the clinical dilemma on the use of prednisolone or PTX.The trial was a randomised, double-blind, 2 × 2 factorial, multicentre design.Sixty-five gastroenterology and hepatology inpatient units across the UK.Patients with a clinical diagnosis of AH who had a Maddrey's discriminant function value of ≥ 32 were randomised into four arms: A, placebo/placebo; B, placebo/prednisolone; C, PTX/placebo; and D, PTX/prednisolone. Of the 5234 patients screened for the trial, 1103 were randomised and after withdrawals, 1053 were available for primary end-point analysis.Those allocated to prednisolone were given 40 mg daily for 28 days and those allocated to PTX were given 400 mg three times per day for 28 days.The primary outcome measure was mortality at 28 days. Secondary outcome measures included mortality or liver transplant at 90 days and at 1 year. Rates of recidivism among survivors and the impact of recidivism on mortality were assessed.At 28 days, in arm A, 45 of 269 (16.7%) patients died; in arm B, 38 of 266 (14.3%) died; in arm C, 50 of 258 (19.4%) died; and in arm D, 35 of 260 (13.5%) died. For PTX, the odds ratio for 28-day mortality was 1.07 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.77 to 1.40; p = 0.686)] and for prednisolone the odds ratio was 0.72 (95% CI 0.52 to 1.01; p = 0.056). In the logistic regression analysis, accounting for indices of disease severity and prognosis, the odds ratio for 28-day mortality in the prednisolone-treated group was 0.61 (95% CI 0.41 to 0.91; p = 0.015). At 90 days and 1 year there were no significant differences in mortality rates between the treatment groups. Serious infections occurred in 13% of patients treated with prednisolone compared with 7% of controls (p = 0.002). At the 90-day follow-up, 45% of patients reported being completely abstinent, 9% reported drinking within safety limits and 33% had an unknown level of alcohol consumption. At 1 year, 37% of patients reported being completely abstinent, 10% reported drinking within safety limits and 39% had an unknown level of alcohol consumption. Only 22% of patients had attended alcohol rehabilitation treatment at 90 days and 1 year.We conclude that prednisolone reduces the risk of mortality at 28 days, but this benefit is not sustained beyond 28 days. PTX had no impact on survival. Future research should focus on interventions to promote abstinence and on treatments that suppress the hepatic inflammation without increasing susceptibility to infection.This trial is registered as EudraCT 2009-013897-42 and Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN88782125.This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 19, No. 102. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information. The NIHR Clinical Research Network provided research nurse support and the Imperial College Biomedical Research Centre also provided funding.

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Pentoxifylline for alcoholic hepatitis.

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Pentoxifylline for alcoholic hepatitis.

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