Recurrent pericarditis : relief with colchicine

Recurrence is one of the major complications of pericarditis. Treatment of recurrence is often difficult, and immunosuppressive drugs or surgery may be necessary. We conducted an open-label prospective study of nine patients (seven men and two women; age, 18-64 years; mean age, 41.7 +/- 13.7 years)....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Circulation (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 1990-10, Vol.82 (4), p.1117-1120
Main Authors: GUINDO, J, DE LA SERNA, A. R, RAMIO, J, DE MIGUEL DIAZ, M. A, SUBIRANA, M. T, PEREZ AYUSO, M. J, COSIN, J, BAYES DE LUNA, A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Cardiology. Vascular system
Clinical Trials as Topic
Colchicine - therapeutic use
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Heart
Humans
Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic - complications
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Pericarditis - complications
Pericarditis - drug therapy
Prospective Studies
Recurrence
Time Factors
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Recurrence is one of the major complications of pericarditis. Treatment of recurrence is often difficult, and immunosuppressive drugs or surgery may be necessary. We conducted an open-label prospective study of nine patients (seven men and two women; age, 18-64 years; mean age, 41.7 +/- 13.7 years). Patients were treated with colchicine (1 mg/day) to prevent recurrences. All patients had suffered at least three relapses despite treatment with acetylsalicylic acid, indomethacin, prednisone, or a combination. Pericarditis was classified as idiopathic in five patients, postpericardiotomy in two, post-myocardial infarction in one, and associated with disseminated lupus erythematosus in one. For statistical analysis, we conducted a paired comparison design (Student's t test). All patients treated with colchicine responded favorably to therapy. Prednisone was discontinued in all patients after 2-6 weeks (mean, 26.33 +/- 10.9 days), and colchicine alone was continued. After a mean follow-up of 24.3 months (minimum, 10 months; maximum, 54 months), no recurrences were observed in any patient; there was a significant difference between the symptom-free periods before and after treatment with colchicine (p less than 0.002). Our study suggests that colchicine may be useful in avoiding recurrence of pericarditis, although these results need to be confirmed in a larger, double-blind study.
ISSN:0009-7322
1524-4539
DOI:10.1161/01.CIR.82.4.1117