Efficacy of Baclofen in the Treatment of Alcohol Addiction

September 4, 2007 updated by: Catholic University of the Sacred Heart

Maintaining Alcohol Abstinence in Alcoholic Patients With Liver Cirrhosis: Efficacy and Safety of Baclofen Administration in a Randomized Double Blind Controlled Study

Intervention to achieve alcohol abstinence represents the most effective treatment for alcoholic patients with liver cirrhosis. However no trials have evaluated the efficacy of anti-craving drugs in these patients because of the concern that these medications might worsen liver disease. Baclofen is effective to reduce alcohol craving improving abstinence in alcohol-dependent patients. It is mainly eliminated by kidney. No hepatic side-effects have been reported in treated patients. The present study investigates the efficacy and safety of baclofen in achieving and maintaining abstinence in alcoholic cirrhotic patients.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment

86

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 1

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • age ranging from 18 to 75 years
  • diagnosis of alcohol dependence according to DSM IV criteria
  • diagnosis of liver cirrhosis
  • alcohol intake of at least 2 heavy drinking days (men > 5 drinks/days; women > 4 drinks/day) per week, on average and an average overall consumption of 21 drinks/week or more for men and 14 drinks/week or more for women during the 4 weeks prior to enrolment
  • presence of a referred family member

Exclusion Criteria:

  • severe heart or lung disease
  • kidney alterations and/or hepato-renal syndrome
  • tumours, including hepatocellular carcinoma
  • metabolic diseases, including diabetes
  • clinical signs of hepatic encephalopathy
  • patients treated with interferon or corticosteroids within the last 60 days
  • psychopathological illness undergoing treatment with psychoactive drugs
  • epilepsy or epileptiform convulsions
  • addiction to drugs other than nicotine

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: 2
A total of 42 alcoholic patients with liver cirrhosis treated with placebo
Drug: placebo
Placebo will be orally administered for 12 consecutive weeks
Active Comparator: 1
a total of 42 alcoholic patients with liver cirrhosis treated by baclofen
Drug: Baclofen
Baclofen orally administered for 12 consecutive weeks. For the first 3 days, baclofen administered at a dose of 5 milligrams 3 times per day; subsequently, the daily dose of baclofen will be increased to 10 milligrams 3 times per day.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Total alcohol abstinence; cumulative abstinence duration
Time Frame: 12 weeks
12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Obsessive and Compulsive craving
Time Frame: 12 weeks
12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Catholic University of the Sacred Heart

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Giovanni Addolorato, M.D., Catholic University of Rome

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

February 1, 2003

Study Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2006

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 4, 2007

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 4, 2007

First Posted (Estimate)

September 5, 2007

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

September 5, 2007

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 4, 2007

Last Verified

September 1, 2007

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Bacl001

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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