title: Efficacy of short-term prednisolone treatment in patients with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia.
abstract: In patients with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia (CEP), dramatic improvements are seen in response to corticosteroid therapy; however, relapse is common after treatment has ceased. The optimal duration of corticosteroid therapy remains unclear. In a randomised, open-label, parallel group study, eligible patients with CEP received oral prednisolone for either 3 months (3-month group) or 6 months (6-month group), followed by 2 years observation. All patients were treated with an initial dose of prednisolone of 0.5 mg·kg(-1)·day(-1), which was then tapered and discontinued at either 3 or 6 months. The primary end-point was relapse during the follow-up period. In the final analysis, there were 23 patients in the 3-month group and 21 patients in the 6-month group. All patients showed a good response to prednisolone treatment. There were 12 (52.1%) relapses in the 3-month group and 13 (61.9%) relapses in the 6-month group. No significant difference was found in the cumulative rate of relapse (p=0.56). All relapse cases showed improvement upon resumption of prednisolone treatment. No difference was observed in the rate of relapse between the 3- and 6-month prednisolone treatment groups for patients with CEP.
authors.affiliation: Second Division, Dept of Internal Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oyama
authors.affiliation: Second Division, Dept of Internal Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan. fujisawa@hama-med.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujisawa
authors.affiliation: Second Division, Dept of Internal Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Dai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.affiliation: Second Division, Dept of Internal Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Enomoto
authors.affiliation: Second Division, Dept of Internal Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Yutaro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Dept of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Inui
authors.affiliation: Dept of Internal Medicine, Enshu Hospital, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuroishi
authors.affiliation: Dept of Respiratory Medicine, Seirei Mikatahara General Hospital, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Koshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokomura
authors.affiliation: Dept of Respiratory Medicine, Hamamatsu Rosai Hospital, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Mikio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Toyoshima
authors.affiliation: Dept of Respiratory Medicine, Shizuoka City Shizuoka Hospital, Shizuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.affiliation: Dept of Respiratory Medicine, Shizuoka General Hospital, Shizuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shirai
authors.affiliation: Dept of Respiratory Medicine, Shizuoka City Shimizu Hospital, Shizuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Masafumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.affiliation: Dept of Respiratory Medicine, Iwata City Hospital, Iwata, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazumasa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yasuda
authors.affiliation: Dept of Respiratory Medicine, Tenryu Hospital, National Hospital Organization, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hayakawa
authors.affiliation: Dept of Internal Medicine, Hamamatsu Toyooka Hospital, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Kingo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chida
authors.affiliation: Second Division, Dept of Internal Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Takafumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suda
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000166:cytology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011657:Pulmonary Eosinophilia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; D011239:Prednisolone