Therapy for alcoholic liver disease

Table 3 Published randomized controlled trials of pentoxifylline vs placebo for severe alcoholic hepatitis n (%)

Ref.	n	Duration of treatment with pentoxifylline 400 mg PO tid	Mortality in placebo	Mortality in pentoxifylline	Relative risk or hazard ratio	95%CI	Comments
Akriviadis et al[110], 2000	101	28 d	24/52 (46)	12/49 (24)	RR = 0.59	0.35-0.97	Positive study (P = 0.037)
Fernández-Rodríguez et al[112], 2008	24	28 d	Not reported1	Not reported1	HR = 1.46	0.5-4.28	Negative study (P = 0.48)
Tyagi et al[107], 2011	612	6 mo	2/31 (6)	1/30 (3)	Not reported	Not reported	Negative study2 (P = 0.15)
Sidhu et al[109], 2012	50	28 d	10/25 (40)	5/25 (20)	RR = 0.5	0.19-1.25	Negative study (P = 0.216)

¹Fernandez-Rodriguez et al[112] reported no statistically significant difference in short-term or long-term survival based on actuarial survival curve;

²Tyagi et al[107] randomized 70 patients, but only 61 completed follow-up and were included in the analysis. The study did not show a significant difference in mortality, but showed a significant difference in the occurrence of hepatorenal syndrome. PO: Per overall survival; RR: Relative risk; HR: Hazard ratio.