Vitamin E
"High dosage therapy in patients with activated arthrosis"
VERNACULAR TITLE: Hochdosierte Vitamin-E-Therapie bei Patienten mit aktivierter
Arthrose.
Scherak O; Kolarz G; Schodl C; Blankenhorn G; Z Rheumatol 1990 Nov-Dec;49(6):369-73.
ABSTRACT: The known antiphlogistic in vitro effect of vitamin
E was tested in a double-blind randomized study in patients with osteoarthritis.
Fifty-three in-patients with osteoarthritis of the hip (n = 34) or the
knee (n = 19) were treated for 3 weeks with 400 mg vitamin E (d-alpha-tocopherolacetate,
V, n = 26) or 50 mg Diclofenac (D, n = 27) three times daily. A standardized
therapeutic exercise program was performed; local therapy was not permitted.
There were no significant differences in the efficacy of the two drugs,
although one patient of the V-group refused further treatment after 8
days because of inefficacy. V reduced or abolished the pain at
rest in 77% (D in 85%), the pain on pressure in 67% (D in 50%), and the
pain on movement in 62% (D in 63%). Both treatments appeared
to be equally effective in reducing the circumference of the knee joints
(p = 0.001) and the walking time (p less than 0.001) and in increasing
the joint mobility (p less than 0.002). Patients (n = 11) with a plasma-alpha-tocopherol
increase higher than two standard deviations of the mean value at onset
(greater than 25.2 mg/l) seemed to have a more pronounced reduction of
pain (eight out of 11 patients) compared with four out of 11 patients
with a moderate increase of vitamin E. Side effects occurred in two out
of 26 patients with V (7.7%), and in 25.9% during D-treatment. One patient
with D therefore stopped the therapy after 9 days.
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