Biomaterial Database

Double-blind controlled trial of prednisolone therapy in patients with severe acute alcoholic hepatitis and spontaneous encephalopathy. 1980

W Depew, and T Boyer, and M Omata, and A Redeker, and T Reynolds

Twenty-eight patients entered a double-blind controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of prednisolone treatment in severe acute alcoholic hepatitis accompanied by encephalopathy. Fifty-three percent (8 of 15) given prednisolone and 54% (7 of 13) given placebo died during the study. The mean duration of hospitalization was 66 days for the prednisolone-treated group and 56 days for those treated with placebo. Prednisolone treatment produced no important beneficial effect on any of the hepatic biochemical tests. The outcome in any particular case was directly related to the development of specific lethal complications (renal failure, injection, and gastrointestinal bleeding) rather than to the treatment employed. We were unable to show any beneficial effect of prednisolone treatment on morbidity or mortality in patients with severe acute alcoholic hepatitis and encephalopathy.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008099	Liver	A large lobed glandular organ in the abdomen of vertebrates that is responsible for detoxification, metabolism, synthesis and storage of various substances.	Livers
D008111	Liver Function Tests	Blood tests that are used to evaluate how well a patient's liver is working and also to help diagnose liver conditions.	Function Test, Liver,Function Tests, Liver,Liver Function Test,Test, Liver Function,Tests, Liver Function
D008297	Male		Males
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D010919	Placebos	Any dummy medication or treatment. Although placebos originally were medicinal preparations having no specific pharmacological activity against a targeted condition, the concept has been extended to include treatments or procedures, especially those administered to control groups in clinical trials in order to provide baseline measurements for the experimental protocol.	Sham Treatment
D011239	Prednisolone	A glucocorticoid with the general properties of the corticosteroids. It is the drug of choice for all conditions in which routine systemic corticosteroid therapy is indicated, except adrenal deficiency states.	Di-Adreson-F,Predate,Predonine,Di Adreson F,DiAdresonF
D011897	Random Allocation	A process involving chance used in therapeutic trials or other research endeavor for allocating experimental subjects, human or animal, between treatment and control groups, or among treatment groups. It may also apply to experiments on inanimate objects.	Randomization,Allocation, Random
D002986	Clinical Trials as Topic	Works about pre-planned studies of the safety, efficacy, or optimum dosage schedule (if appropriate) of one or more diagnostic, therapeutic, or prophylactic drugs, devices, or techniques selected according to predetermined criteria of eligibility and observed for predefined evidence of favorable and unfavorable effects. This concept includes clinical trials conducted both in the U.S. and in other countries.	Clinical Trial as Topic
D004311	Double-Blind Method	A method of studying a drug or procedure in which both the subjects and investigators are kept unaware of who is actually getting which specific treatment.	Double-Masked Study,Double-Blind Study,Double-Masked Method,Double Blind Method,Double Blind Study,Double Masked Method,Double Masked Study,Double-Blind Methods,Double-Blind Studies,Double-Masked Methods,Double-Masked Studies,Method, Double-Blind,Method, Double-Masked,Methods, Double-Blind,Methods, Double-Masked,Studies, Double-Blind,Studies, Double-Masked,Study, Double-Blind,Study, Double-Masked
D005260	Female		Females