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Working & Treatment of Colchicine-
Colchicine |
Colchicine is the branded medication approved by the Food and Drug
Administration-FDA for the treatment of gout and also for familial
Mediterranean fever, minor amyloidosis and scleroderma. The drug is
also used as the anti-inflammatory agent for long-term treatment of
Behçet’s disease. Colchicine is typically indicated for the
treatment and relief of pain in the attacks of acute gouty
arthritis. This medication is also widely recommended for regular
use between attacks as the prophylactic measure and is often
effective in terminating the attack if taken at the initial sign of
articular discomfort.
The precise mechanism of action of Colchicine in gout is not yet
thoroughly known but it involves the decrease in lactic acid
production by leukocytes which lead to reduction in uric acid
deposition besides reducing phagocytes with abatement of the
inflammatory response. In spite of help relieving pain in the acute
attacks of gout, Colchicine is neither an analgesic nor the
uricosuric agent and does not prevent progression of gout in chronic
gouty arthritis conditions. The drug has the prophylactic,
suppressive efficacy which helps decreasing the episodes of acute
attacks and relieves the remaining pain and mild discomfort that the
patients suffering from gout infrequently experience.
Colchicine is absorbed faster after its oral ingestion and most
amount of this medication and metabolites enter the intestinal tract
in the bile and intestinal secretions. High concentrations of
Colchicine are found in the kidney, liver and spleen. The drug is
not tightly bound to serum protein so it quickly leaves the blood
stream. Secretion arises initially by biliary and renal routes. The
drug is prescribed based on certain pathological tests suggested by
the doctor before initiating the treatments.
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