Effects of acitretin on the liver

• Published in: Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 1999, Vol.41 (4), p.584-588
• Main Authors: Roenigk, Henry H., Callen, Jeffrey P., Guzzo, Cynthia A., Katz, H. Irving, Lowe, Nicholas, Madison, Kathi, Nigra, Thomas, Fiedler, Virginia C., Armstrong, Robert B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0190-9622; 1097-6787
• DOI: 10.1016/S0190-9622(99)80058-9

Therapy with aromatic retinoids for psoriasis is associated with abnormal liver function test findings and toxic hepatitis (in 1.5% of patients). Our purpose was to determine the safety of acitretin with respect to liver function, on the basis of biopsy. We treated 128 adults (with chronic, stable psoriasis) with oral acitretin (25–75 mg/day) for four 6-month intervals in a prospective, open-label, 2-year multicenter study. Liver biopsies were performed before and after study completion (2 years). Eighty-three available pairs of pretreatment and posttreatment liver biopsies demonstrated no change in 49 patients (59%), improvement in 20 (24%), and worsening in 14 (17%). Of these 14 patients with decrements in biopsy status, most changes were mild. There was no correlation between liver function test abnormalities or cumulative acitretin dose and changes in liver biopsy status. Acitretin therapy elicited no biopsy-proven hepatotoxicity in this prospective 2-year study. These findings suggest that periodic liver biopsy may not be necessary with acitretin treatment.