A LARGE OPEN TRIAL OF PROGLUMETACIN IN THE TREATMENT OF SOFT-TISSUE RHEUMATISMS

In an uncontrolled open trial, 317 outpatients suffering from soft-tis sue rheumatisms (ie, 148 patients with painful shoulder, 92 w th tendi nitis, 42 with epicondylitis, and 35 with minor traumas) received 450 mg/day of proglumetacin, a prodrug of indomethacin. After 7 days of tr eatment, a highly significant reduction in pain and an improvement of function were observed in all groups of patients (P < 0.001). The inci dence of side effects (13.8%), mainly gastrointestinal (10.1%), was lo w, especially compared with that classically described for indomethaci n. More than 50% of the patients who developed side effects were able to continue proglumetacin treatment, and only one fifth of them (ie, 2 .8% of all patients in the study) had to discontinue the treatment. Fo r the short-term treatment of soft-tissue rheumatisms, proglumetacin a ppears to be a safe nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory compound that is as sociated with a reduction in pain and an improvement in function in tr eated patients.