Ratzui V, Giral P, Jacqueminet S et al.; LIDO Study Group.
Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris VI, Paris, France.
Gastroenterology 2008;135:100–10.
Editor’s note: This study is one of the first to test therapies for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). A previous uncon-trolled study suggested that treatment with rosiglitazone leads to biochemical and histological improvement in patients with NASH (
Hepatology 2003;38:1008–17). In the current trial, the investigators randomized 63 patients with histologically proven NASH in a double-blind fashion to receive rosiglitazone 4 mg/day for the first month and 8 mg/dayfor the next 11 months, or placebo. As NASH is associated with insulin resistance and rosiglitazone is an insulin sensitizer, a good rationale exists for this type of study. Pretreatment and end-of-therapy liver biopsies were available for analysis.