Gastroen Clin Biol
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Treatment of alcoholic hepatitis with colchicine. Results of a randomized double blind trial.
A randomized double-blind trial of colchicine vs placebo was conducted in 67 patients with histologically proven alcoholic hepatitis, 33 of whom had cirrhosis. Patients with hepatic encephalopathy, ascites, protracted prothrombin time, severe thrombocytopenia, hepatocellular carcinoma, evident lack of discipline or refusal to participate in the trial were not included. Thirty-three patients received colchicine (1 mg/day) and 34 received placebo for 6 months. ⋯ No side-effects were noted except transient diarrhea. Our results suggest that colchicine has no important effect on the course of alcoholic hepatitis. A trial including of at least 260 patients might be necessary for the observed alcoholic hepatitis score difference at 3 months, favoring colchicine, to be statistically significant.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Single dose ranitidine: influence of the time of administration on gastric acidity in normal subjects and in patients with duodenal ulcer.
Using ambulatory 24 hour pH monitoring, intragastric acidity was measured in 6 healthy volunteers and 8 patients with duodenal ulcer. According to a latin square design each patient was randomly assigned to receive placebo, 300 mg ranitidine at 19.00 h or 300 mg ranitidine at 22.00 h, on three separate occasions. ⋯ Comparing the area under the curve of intragastric hydrogen ion activity, as well as the percent of time less than pH 5, we found a better inhibition of nocturnal acidity (20.00 h-08.00 h) with 19.00 h ranitidine than with ranitidine administered at 22.00 h (p less than 0.01). By contrast, there was no significant difference in diurnal acidity between both ranitidine regimens and placebo.
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The authors report 6 cases of portal hypertension with gastrorenal shunt. This shunt did not arise from the left gastric vein, but from the splenic vein. Portal hypertension was related to alcoholic cirrhosis in 3 cases, to extensive portal thrombosis in 2 cases, and to nodular regenerative hyperplasia of the liver in one case. ⋯ Definitive control of hemorrhage could not be achieved by endoscopic variceal sclerotherapy (2 cases) or percutaneous transhepatic embolization (one case). Portacaval shunt or splenectomy was performed in 5 cases. These findings suggest that spontaneous splenogastrorenal shunt is a clinical and hemodynamic entity which requires specific treatment when associated with gastric variceal bleeding.