Trial reportDigestive diseases and sciences2012
Corticosteroid plus pentoxifylline is not better than corticosteroid alone for improving survival in severe alcoholic hepatitis (COPE trial).
Trial report in Digestive diseases and sciences, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02473341 (Efficacy Of Bovine Colostrum In The Treatment Of Severe Alcohol-Associated Hepatitis), which is not on this map. Cited by 32 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Efficacy Of Bovine Colostrum In The Treatment Of Severe Alcohol-Associated Hepatitis: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Network Meta-Analysis: Treatments for Acute Alcohol-Associated Hepatitis.Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver · 2026Pooled it
- Past, Present, and Future Therapies for Alcohol-associated Hepatitis.Clinical therapeutics · 2023Pooled it
- ACG Clinical Guideline: Alcoholic Liver Disease.The American journal of gastroenterology · 2018Guideline
- Diagnosis and Treatment of Alcoholic Hepatitis: A Systematic Review.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2016Pooled it
- KASL clinical practice guidelines: management of alcoholic liver disease.Clinical and molecular hepatology · 2013Guideline
- Steroids or pentoxifylline for alcoholic hepatitis (STOPAH): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.Trials · 2013Trial
- Stratification and selection of therapies to improve survival in severe alcoholic hepatitis.World journal of hepatology · 2025Review
- Hovenia dulcis: a Chinese medicine that plays an essential role in alcohol-associated liver disease.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Review
- Recommendation Reversals in Gastroenterology Clinical Practice Guidelines.Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology · 2022Article
- Review
- Current Management and Future Treatment of Alcoholic Hepatitis.Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2020Article
- Predictors of 90-day mortality in patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis: Experience with 183 patients at a tertiary care center from India.Indian journal of gastroenterology : official journal of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology · 2018Article
- Treatment options for alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A review.World journal of gastroenterology · 2017Review
- Emerging concepts in alcoholic hepatitis.World journal of hepatology · 2017Review
- Pharmacological interventions for alcoholic liver disease (alcohol-related liver disease): an attempted network meta-analysis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Review
- Infection does not increase long-term mortality in patients with acute severe alcoholic hepatitis treated with corticosteroids.World journal of gastroenterology · 2017Observational
- Infections in severe alcoholic hepatitis.Annals of gastroenterology · 2017Review
- Medical Management of Severe Alcoholic Hepatitis: Expert Review from the Clinical Practice Updates Committee of the AGA Institute.Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology : the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association · 2017Review
- Pharmacologic Treatment of Alcoholic Hepatitis: Examining Outcomes Based on Disease Severity Stratification.Journal of clinical and experimental hepatology · 2016Article
- Current Management of Alcoholic Hepatitis and Future Therapies.Journal of clinical and translational hepatology · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCorticosteroids and pentoxifylline reduce short-term mortality in severe alcoholic hepatitis (SAH), but not to the extent desired. Combining both drugs may lead to better survival, but has not yet been studied.
aimTo compare the efficacy of corticosteroids plus pentoxifylline with that of corticosteroids alone in improving survival of SAH patients.
methodsOf the 111 patients screened, 70 patients with SAH (Maddrey discriminant function (MDF) ≥ 32) were enrolled. Patients with active infection, bleeding, renal failure, or pancreatitis were excluded. Treatment was given for four weeks to group A (n = 36; prednisolone 40 mg/day plus pentoxifylline 400 mg thrice/day) and group B (n = 34; prednisolone 40 mg/day). Patients were followed up for 6 months. Data are expressed as median (range) or percentage.
resultsBaseline characteristics of the two groups were similar (MDF group A 78.5 (36.8-140.9), group B 74.9 (45.6-140.2)). Four-week and six-month survival in groups A and B were not significantly different (four-week 72.2 and 73.5%, respectively, p = 1.00; six-month 30.6 and 23.5%, respectively, p = 0.417). At seven days, 55.6% of patients in group A and 64.7% in group B had a Lille score <0.45 (p = 0.473). Six-month survival was significantly higher for patients with a Lille Score <0.45 than for those with a Lille score ≥0.45 (group A 55.5 vs. 0%, p = 0.0006; group B 36 vs. 0%, p = 0.0304). Biological improvement at 28 days was significant for both groups; however, the difference between the groups was not significant.
conclusionsFor patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis, a combination of corticosteroids and pentoxifylline has no additional survival advantage compared with corticosteroids alone.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.