TY - JOUR
T1 - Recurrent pericarditis: Relief with colchicine
AU - Guindo, J.
AU - Rodriguez de la Serna, A.
AU - Ramio, J.
AU - De Miguel Diaz, M. A.
AU - Subirana, M. T.
AU - Perez Ayuso, M. J.
AU - Cosin, J.
AU - Bayes de Luna, A.
PY - 1990/1/1
Y1 - 1990/1/1
N2 - Recurrence is one of the major complications of pericarditis. Treatment of recurrence is often difficult, and immunosupressive 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<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.
AB - Recurrence is one of the major complications of pericarditis. Treatment of recurrence is often difficult, and immunosupressive 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<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.
U2 - 10.1161/01.CIR.82.4.1117
DO - 10.1161/01.CIR.82.4.1117
M3 - Article
VL - 82
SP - 1117
EP - 1120
IS - 4
ER -