Colchicine in the Treatment of Postpericardiotomy and Other Acute Pericarditis

Colchicine is an antiinflammatory agent used in the treatment of gout arthritis. It has been advocated in disorders associated with inflammation and subsequent fibrosis since it inhibitis collagen synthesis and secretion, and enhances collagenase activity. We used colchicine to evaluate the efficacy in 15 patients (9 men and 6 women between the ages of 23 and 60, with a mean age of 44) unresponsive to nonsteroidal antiinflammatory therapy. Pericarditis was due to postpericardiotomy syndrome in 10 patients. Dressler syndrome in 2, tuberculosis in 1. The remaining two were termed idiopathic. The drug was given 3 mg/d in the first day. 2 mg/d in the second day as a loading dose and 1 mg/d subsequently for 8 weeks as maintenance. Favorable results were obtained in all cases except in one patient with tuberculous pericarditis. Because of its potent antiinflammatory effect, colchicine may be used in the treatment of idiopathic or immunologicallymediated pericarditis as a drug of choice. However, this should be confirmed by comparative studies done with colchicine vs nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs.