Methotrexate hepatotoxicity and the premature reporting of Mark Twain's death: Both greatly exaggerated
✍ Scribed by Marshall M. Kaplan
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1990
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 424 KB
- Volume
- 12
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0270-9139
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Ten histological criteria were evaluated semiquantitatively in the liver biopsies of 60 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) before initiation of methotrexate (MTX) and were compared with 40 biopsies taken during MTX treatment (mean cumulative dose 1,322 mg). Meaenchymal changes (Kupffer cell proliferation, portal tract infiltration) and parenchymal alterations (nuclear variability, ballooning, fatty a-tration) were very common without statistically significant difference between the 2 groups. Slight periportal and/or portal fibrosis was present in 26% of patients without statistical differences between groups. Central fibrosis occurred in 13.5-12.5%. We conclude that liver abnormalities in RA are not related to MTX treatment.
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