Clinical and pharmacokinetic study of praziquantel in Egyptian schistosomiasis patients with and without liver cell failure.

The pharmacokinetics and therapeutic efficacy of praziquantel (Distocide; Epico, El-Asher-Men-Ramadan City, Egypt) were studied in 40 patients with schistosomiasis mansoni and various degrees of hepatic dysfunction. The patients were allocated into four groups: the first included 10 patients with simple active schistosomiasis while the other three were made up of patients with schistosomiasis associated with liver cirrhosis and splenomegaly according to Child's classification of hepatocellular function. Every patient was treated with 40 mg/kg of praziquantel as a single oral dose.