Abstract
A double-blind study in thirty patients with rheumatoid arthritis showed no difference in the effectiveness of Butazolidin and Butacote. A two-year open study in 103 patients, most with gastric intolerance to anti-rheumatic drugs, demonstrated that the majority were able to tolerate Butacote, that side-effects were likely to occur early, but that patients with peptic ulceration did not do well.
Forty patients who were still taking Butacote at the end of the two-year study are reviewed after a treatment period of more than six years. Seven are still on treatment and eleven were able to stop because the disease went into remission. In nine patients a change of treatment was needed because symptoms were not controlled, but this was only after prolonged periods of treatment with Butacote, all but one for more than three years. Eight patients developed gastro-intestinal upset, but tolerated this for long periods before changing treatment. Only one had gastro-intestinal bleeding, and this was from a hiatus hernia. There were no significant haematological abnormalities.
From the total of 103 patients with rhematoid arthritis, mainly selected because of gastro-intestinal intolerance to other drugs, only nineteen had to stop treatment because of gastro-intestinal upset. Thirty-three changed treatment because of unsatisfactory therapeutic effect, but, over a long period of treatment, sixteen patients were able to continue treatment until the disease went into remission, and a further seven patients are still on treatment, with satisfactory tolerance and symptom control, the longest having been on treatment for more than eight years.
In view of the particular problems of long-term treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, particularly in patients with known gastric intolerance, this is considered to be a significant and highly satisfactory response.
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