This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Guindo, J. Articles by Bayes de Luna, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Guindo, J. Articles by Bayes de Luna, A.

Circulation, Vol 82, 1117-1120, Copyright © 1990 by American Heart Association

ARTICLES

Recurrent pericarditis. Relief with colchicine

J Guindo, A Rodriguez de la Serna, J Ramio, MA de Miguel Diaz, MT Subirana, MJ Perez Ayuso, J Cosin and A Bayes de Luna
Department of Cardiology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain.

Recurrence is one of the major complications of pericarditis. Treatment of recurrence is often difficult, and immunosuppressive 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 less than 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.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				I f. Kuo, G. J Pearson, and S. L Koshman Colchicine for the Primary and Secondary Prevention of Pericarditis: An Update Ann. Pharmacother., December 1, 2009; 43(12): 2075 - 2081. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Imazio, A. Brucato, R. Trinchero, D. Spodick, and Y. Adler Colchicine for pericarditis: hype or hope? Eur. Heart J., March 1, 2009; 30(5): 532 - 539. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Soler-Soler and J. Sagristà-Sauleda CHAPTER 19 Pericardial Disease ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine, January 1, 2009; 2(1): med-9780199566990-chapter - med-9780199566990-chapter. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Flather and J. Collinson First line treatment with colchicine reduced recurrent pericarditis Evid. Based Med., April 1, 2006; 11(2): 44 - 44. [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Imazio, M. Bobbio, E. Cecchi, D. Demarie, B. Demichelis, F. Pomari, M. Moratti, G. Gaschino, M. Giammaria, A. Ghisio, et al. Colchicine in Addition to Conventional Therapy for Acute Pericarditis: Results of the COlchicine for acute PEricarditis (COPE) Trial Circulation, September 27, 2005; 112(13): 2012 - 2016. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Imazio, M. Bobbio, E. Cecchi, D. Demarie, F. Pomari, M. Moratti, A. Ghisio, R. Belli, and R. Trinchero Colchicine as First-Choice Therapy for Recurrent Pericarditis: Results of the CORE (COlchicine for REcurrent pericarditis) Trial Arch Intern Med, September 26, 2005; 165(17): 1987 - 1991. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A Brucato, Y Shinar, G Brambilla, L Robbiolo, G Ferrioli, M C Patrosso, D Zanni, S Penco, E Boiani, A Ghirardello, et al. Idiopathic recurrent acute pericarditis: familial Mediterranean fever mutations and disease evolution in a large cohort of Caucasian patients Lupus, September 1, 2005; 14(9): 670 - 674. [Abstract] [PDF]

				G. Artom, N. Koren-Morag, D. H. Spodick, A. Brucato, J. Guindo, A. Bayes-de-Luna, G. Brambilla, Y. Finkelstein, B. Granel, A. Bayes-Genis, et al. Pretreatment with corticosteroids attenuates the efficacy of colchicine in preventing recurrent pericarditis: a multi-centre all-case analysis Eur. Heart J., April 1, 2005; 26(7): 723 - 727. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. Maisch Recurrent pericarditis: mysterious or not so mysterious? Eur. Heart J., April 1, 2005; 26(7): 631 - 633. [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Soler-Soler, J. Sagrista-Sauleda, and G. Permanyer-Miralda Relapsing pericarditis Heart, November 1, 2004; 90(11): 1364 - 1368. [Full Text] [PDF]

				Task Force members, B. Maisch, P. M. Seferovic, A. D. Ristic, R. Erbel, R. Rienmuller, Y. Adler, W. Z. Tomkowski, G. Thiene, M. H. Yacoub, et al. Guidelines on the Diagnosis and Management of Pericardial Diseases Executive Summary: The Task Force on the Diagnosis and Management of Pericardial Diseases of the European Society of Cardiology Eur. Heart J., April 1, 2004; 25(7): 587 - 610. [Full Text] [PDF]

				H.A. Majeed, M. Rawashdeh, H. El-Shanti, H. Qubain, N. Khuri-Bulos, and H.M. Shahin Familial Mediterranean fever in children: the expanded clinical profile QJM, June 1, 1999; 92(6): 309 - 318. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Adler, Y. Finkelstein, J. Guindo, A. Rodriguez de la Serna, Y. Shoenfeld, A. Bayes-Genis, A. Sagie, A. Bayes de Luna, and D. H. Spodick Colchicine Treatment for Recurrent Pericarditis : A Decade of Experience Circulation, June 2, 1998; 97(21): 2183 - 2185. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				COLCHICINE FOR RECURRENT PERICARDITIS Journal Watch (General), October 12, 1990; 1990(1012): 3 - 3. [Full Text]