Intravenous methylprednisolone pulse therapy for children with autoimmune hepatitis.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate an efficacy of intravenous methylprednisolone pulse therapy (m-PSL) and the occurrence of corticosteroid-related side effects in children with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), compared with oral corticosteroid therapy.


METHODS
The subjects consisted of nine children with AIH. Patients were divided into two groups. Group 1 was consisted of four patients who were treated with conventional oral prednisone therapy without m-PSL. Group 2 was consisted of five children who were treated with m-PSL as an induction therapy and maintained on oral prednisone.


RESULTS
The median duration needed for normalization of alanine aminotransferase was 285 days (range 18-617 days) in group 1 and 54 days (range 15-116 days) in group 2. The most frequent side effects were obesity and growth retardation. The Z-score in group 1 tended to be lower than in group 2 and body mass index in group 1 tended to be higher than in group 2.


CONCLUSIONS
The m-PSL may become a safe and effective therapy for children with AIH. Further study is needed to establish the appropriate therapy for AIH in children.
Sogo
Tsuyoshi
T
Department of Pediatrics, Atami Hospital, International University of Health and Welfare, 13-1, Higashikaigancho, Atami City, Shizuoka 413-0012, Japan; Department of Pathology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan.
Fujisawa
Tomoo
T
Inui
Ayano
A
Komatsu
Haruki
H
Etani
Yuri
Y
Tajiri
Hitoshi
H
Waki
Kenji
K
Shimizu
Yukitoshi
Y
Nakashima
Shoko
S
Imagawa
Tomoyuki
T
Yokota
Shumpei
S