Showing posts with label prednisolone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prednisolone. Show all posts

Monday, May 16, 2016

Steroid May Be Safe, Effective Gout Treatment, Study Finds

A steroid pill may be as good as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) for treating painful gout, new research suggests.

Researchers who compared the steroid prednisolone with the arthritis medication indomethacin found both drugs offered a similar degree of pain reduction. And while indomethacin (Indocin) appeared to cause more minor side effects, neither treatment prompted serious complications, the researchers said.

        Prednisolone-2D-skeletal.svg(Prednisole) Indometacin skeletal.svg(Indomethacin)



Smaller investigations have pointed in the same direction, said study lead author Dr. Timothy Rainer, a professor of emergency medicine at Cardiff University in Wales. But because the new findings are the product of a "larger and better-designed" effort, Rainer said steroid pills may gain standing among gout experts who usually stick with NSAIDs as their first-line treatment.

The bottom line is that there are choices, said Dr. Philip Mease, a rheumatologist with the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle.

"That is the key message - that there are options," said Mease, who wasn't involved in the study. "Sometimes ER docs don't think about giving a tapering dose of prednisone, but it can be very effective at helping with gout, which can be damn painful."