Short-term Survival in Patients With Severe Alcoholic Hepatitis Treated With Steroid Versus Pentoxifylline

October 18, 2011 updated by: Seung Ha Park, Inje University

Principal Investigator

Alcoholic hepatitis represents one of the more serious forms of alcoholic liver disease. Critically ill patients with alcoholic hepatitis have high morbidity and mortality rate. Because of data suggesting that the pathogenic mechanisms in alcoholic hepatitis involve cytokine release and the perpetuation of injury by immunologic process, corticosteroid has been extensively evaluated in the treatment of alcoholic hepatitis. Although there are discrepancies in literature as several randomized trials and meta-analyses have reached contradictory results, corticosteroid for a subset of patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis, defined as a discriminant function ≥ 32, who also have no concomitant gastrointestinal bleeding, active infection, renal failure, and pancreatitis, has been recommended. This latter point emphasizes the important of meticulous selection to avoid the side effects of corticosteroid. Thus, the beneficial effects seems confined to a highly selected minority group in which the inhibitory effect of corticosteroid on liver inflammation is not outweighed by side effects such as weakened defense against infection, anti-anabolic effects, and possible ulcer-promoting effects causing gastrointestinal bleeding, which may be deleterious in these critically ill patients.

Newer understanding of the role of the role of TNF-α expression and receptor activity in alcoholic liver injury has prompted to an examination of TNF inhibition as an alternative to corticosteroid for severe alcoholic hepatitis. Pentoxifylline, a nonspecific TNF inhibitor, recently has been demonstrated in a randomized trial to improve survival in the therapy of severe alcoholic hepatitis. In particular, the survival benefit of pentoxifylline appears to be related to a significant reduction in development of hepatorenal syndrome. These results are promising, and support the need to further evaluate the potential of this new therapeutic avenue.

There is a need for head to head comparison of corticosteroid and pentoxifylline in severe alcoholic hepatitis. At the time the current study was designed (2008), corticosteroid was first-line treatment for severe alcoholic hepatitis. This study was designed to demonstrate that the effect of pentoxifylline was similar (i.e., not inferior) to that of prednisolone, an active form of prednisone. The aim of the present study was thus to compare the effects of pentoxifylline and prednisolone on the short-term mortality.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

126

Phase

  • Phase 3

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

20 years to 75 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Clinical diagnosis of Severe alcoholic hepatitis (discriminant function ≥ 32 points), Must be able to swallow tablets.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Gastrointestinal bleeding Bacterial infection HBsAg positivity Acute pancreatitis

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
  • Masking: SINGLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: prednisolone
Drug: Prednisolone
40mg qd
EXPERIMENTAL: pentoxifylline
Drug: pentoxifylline
400mg tid

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
survival rate
Time Frame: at 1-month
at 1-month

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Inje University

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

January 1, 2009

Primary Completion (ANTICIPATED)

December 1, 2011

Study Completion (ANTICIPATED)

December 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 13, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 18, 2011

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

October 19, 2011

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)

October 19, 2011

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 18, 2011

Last Verified

October 1, 2011

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1111 (Prima Psychiatry internal research fund)

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.

Clinical Trials on Alcoholic Hepatitis

Clinical Trials on Prednisolone

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Lebanon

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe