Colchicine treatment of alcoholic cirrhosis: a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of patient survival.

Background & Aims: Colchicine improved survival and reversed cirrhosis in several small clinical trials. We compared the efficacy and safety of long-term colchicine, as compared with placebo, in patients with advanced alcoholic cirrhosis.

Methods: Five hundred forty-nine patients with advanced (Pugh B or C) alcoholic cirrhosis were randomized to receive either colchicine 0.

Effects of alcohol consumption on eight circulating markers of liver fibrosis.

A number of circulating breakdown products of collagen or other components of extracellular matrix, matrix degrading metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs) have been proposed as markers of hepatic fibrosis. However, the published results lack consistency. Since many of the patients with fibrosis studied were alcoholics, the question was raised whether recent alcohol consumption may affect the results obtained.