[Ursodeoxycholic hemisuccinate in the treatment of chronic active hepatitis. A controlled clinico-therapeutic study].

This controlled study was performed on 36 patients affected by HBV and/or HCV correlated chronic hepatitis (CAH). Eighteen of them received 300 mg of UDCA-hemisuccinate orally twice a day for six months; the other 18 received 200 mg of S-adenosyl-methionine (SAMe) twice a day for six months. The two groups were determined randomly. Treatment with UDCA-hemi-succinate produced a statistically significant reduction in ALT (from 167 +/- 17 to 119 +/- 15 U/l; p < 0.0001), AST (from 122 +/- 14 to 86 +/- 11 U/l; p < 0.0001) and y-GT (from 81 +/- 10 to 53 +/- 6 U/l, p < 0.0001). The results obtained suggest that UDCA-hemi-succinate may be useful in the long-term treatment of chronic liver diseases of viral aetiology because it improves the biochemical parameters of hepatocellular necrosis and/or increased liver cell permeability.