Open Access

Pharmacological management of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: Atorvastatin versus pentoxifylline

  • Authors:
    • Ramona Cioboată
    • Alice Găman
    • Diana Traşcă
    • Anca Ungureanu
    • Anca Oana Docea
    • Paul Tomescu
    • Florin Gherghina
    • Andreea Letitia Arsene
    • Corin Badiu
    • Aristides M. Tsatsakis
    • Demetrios A. Spandidos
    • Nikolaos Drakoulis
    • Daniela Călina
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: March 23, 2017     https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2017.4256
  • Pages: 2375-2381
  • Copyright: © Cioboată et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy of pentoxifylline and atorvastatin in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The study included 98 patients with histologically confirmed NAFLD divided into 2 groups as follows: group I (57 dyslipidemic patients, receiving atorvastatin 20 mg/day and group II (41 non-dyslipidemic patients, treated with pentoxifylline, 800 mg/day). The present study was conducted for a mean of 32.8±3.4 weeks. For all patients, we determined the body mass index, a liver biopsy was performed, and we measured the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma‑glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides (TG) at the beginning and at the end of the study period. The NAFLD activity score (NAS) was used to evaluate the liver biopsies for steatosis, fibrosis and necroinflammation. The patients in group I exhibited a considerable reduction in ALT, AST, GGT, TC, AP and TG levels (P<0.0001). Histologically, there were no changes in fibrosis and necroinflammation, although the extent steatosis was reduced. The improvement in the ALT, AST and GGT values (P<0.05) in group II were similar to those in group I; however, no statistically significant decrease was noted in the levels of ALP, TC and TG in this group. Our results thus demonstrated that atorvastatin attenuated steatosis and improved liver function parameters in patients with NAFLD associated with dyslipidemia. Similar results were obtained in the non-dyslipidemic patients administered pentoxifylline.
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May-2017
Volume 13 Issue 5

Print ISSN: 1792-0981
Online ISSN:1792-1015

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Spandidos Publications style
Cioboată R, Găman A, Traşcă D, Ungureanu A, Docea AO, Tomescu P, Gherghina F, Arsene AL, Badiu C, Tsatsakis AM, Tsatsakis AM, et al: Pharmacological management of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: Atorvastatin versus pentoxifylline. Exp Ther Med 13: 2375-2381, 2017
APA
Cioboată, R., Găman, A., Traşcă, D., Ungureanu, A., Docea, A.O., Tomescu, P. ... Călina, D. (2017). Pharmacological management of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: Atorvastatin versus pentoxifylline. Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, 13, 2375-2381. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2017.4256
MLA
Cioboată, R., Găman, A., Traşcă, D., Ungureanu, A., Docea, A. O., Tomescu, P., Gherghina, F., Arsene, A. L., Badiu, C., Tsatsakis, A. M., Spandidos, D. A., Drakoulis, N., Călina, D."Pharmacological management of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: Atorvastatin versus pentoxifylline". Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine 13.5 (2017): 2375-2381.
Chicago
Cioboată, R., Găman, A., Traşcă, D., Ungureanu, A., Docea, A. O., Tomescu, P., Gherghina, F., Arsene, A. L., Badiu, C., Tsatsakis, A. M., Spandidos, D. A., Drakoulis, N., Călina, D."Pharmacological management of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: Atorvastatin versus pentoxifylline". Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine 13, no. 5 (2017): 2375-2381. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2017.4256