Diltiazem

A prospective randomized trial of diltiazern and glyceryl trinitrate ointment in the treatment of chronic anal fissure.

Bielecki K, Kolodziejczak M. Colorectal Dis 2003;5:256-257.

This study also is too recently published to have been covered in the review abstracted above. The authors are affiliated with either the Orlowski Hospital or Warsaw County Hospital in Warsaw, Poland. They compared the use of 2% diltiazem ointment with 0.5% glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) ointment for the treatment of anal fissures in 43 consecutive patients who attended an outpatient clinic between June and December 2001. Patients were randomized into two groups: 21 patients received GTN, and 22 patients received diltiazem. Treatments were administered twice daily using approximately 500 to 700 mgperdose for8 weeks. Healingandside effects were recorded at 2 and 8 weeks. Healing was observed in 19 of 22 patients in the diltiazem-treated group and in 18 of 21 patients in the GTN-treated group. No side effects were reported in the diltiazem-treated patients; headache and dizziness were noted in 7 of the 21 (33.3%) GTN-treated patients. The authors believe that use of topical diltiazem to treat anal fissures is superior to the use of topical GTN due to an absence of side effects, although they realize that in a future study a followup period longer than 8 weeks is needed.

Copyright International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding Jan/Feb 2004
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved