S-adenosylmethionine in alcoholic liver cirrhosis: A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, multicenter clinical trial

Background/Aim: The efficacy of S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) in the treatm ent of liver cc:ll injury has been demonstrated in several experimental mod els. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of AdoMet treatme nt in human alcoholic liver cirrhosis, Methods: A randomized, double-blind trial was performed in 123 patients tre ated with AdoMet (1200 mg/day, orally) or placebo for 2 years, All patients had alcoholic cirrhosis, and histologic confirmation of the diagnosis was available in 84% of the cases. Seventy-five patients were in Child class A, 40 in class B, and 8 in class C, Sixty-two patients received AdoMet and 61 received placebo, Results: At inclusion into the trial no significant differences were observ ed between the two groups with respect to sex, age, previous episodes of ma jor complications of cirrhosis, Child classification and liver function tes ts. The overall mortality/liver transplantation at the end of the trial dec reased from 30% in the placebo group to 16% in the AdoMet group, although t he difference was not statistically significant (p=0.077), When patients in Child C class were excluded from the analysis, the overall mortality/liver transplantation was significantly greater in the placebo group than in the AdoMet group (29% vs 12%, p=0.025), and differences between the two groups in the 2-year survival curves (defined as the time to death or liver trans plantation) were also statistically significant (p=0.046), Conclusions: The present results indicate that longterm treatment with AdoM et may improve survival or delay liver transplantation in patients with alc oholic liver cirrhosis, especially in those with less advanced liver diseas e.