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Allopurinol in addition to 5‐aminosalicylic acid based drugs for the maintenance treatment of ulcerative colitis
Author(s) -
Gunnar Järnerot,
Magnus Ström,
Åke Danielsson,
Anders Kilander,
Lars Lööf,
Rolf Hultcrantz,
Robert Löfberg,
ClaesHenrik Florén,
Anders Nilsson,
Olle Broström
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
alimentary pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.308
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1365-2036
pISSN - 0269-2813
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2036.2000.00821.x
Subject(s) - allopurinol , medicine , ulcerative colitis , placebo , gastroenterology , maintenance therapy , aminosalicylic acid , surgery , chemotherapy , disease , alternative medicine , pathology
Background: To investigate the value of combined treatment with allopurinol and 5‐aminosalicylic (5‐ASA) based drugs as maintenance treatment for ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods: 199 patients with UC in remission but with active disease during the preceding 3 years were included. Allopurinol 100 mg twice daily or placebo was added to the 5‐ASA based maintenance treatment. Clinical and endoscopic follow up was performed after 1, 6 and 12 months. Results: Intention‐to‐treat analysis after 6 and 12 months showed similar results in both groups. A log‐rank test showed that 77% in the allopurinol compared to 59% in the placebo group were still in remission after 6 months ( P =0.0083) and 62% and 53% after 12 months, respectively ( P =0.0936). This was mainly due to a higher than expected number of relapses during the first 3 months in the placebo group. After the first 3 months, the rate of relapse in each group was similar. Conclusions: It appears possible that allopurinol in combination with 5‐ASA is better than 5‐ASA alone for a 6‐month, but not a 12‐month period. This has to be verified in further dose‐ranging studies.