Does switching from coated colchicine to compressed colchicine improves treatment response in patients with familial Mediterranean fever?

Aim To evaluate the treatment response to compressed colchicine tablets in familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) pa-tients with resistance or intolerance to coated colchicine. The secondary aim was to determine the demographic and clinical characteristics of responders to compressed colchicine. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical re-cords of 1574 pediatric patients with FMF treated at Anka-ra Bilkent City Hospital. Sixty-one patients did not respond to coated colchicine and were switched to compressed colchicine. In these patients, the number of attacks and the International Severity Score for FMF (ISSF) during the 6 months before and 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24 months after switch-ing from coated colchicine to compressed colchicine were recorded. ResultsTwelve of 61 patients (19.7%) who were switched to compressed colchicine due to intolerance respond-ed to treatment. Of the 49/61 patients (80.3%) who were switched due to uncontrolled attacks and persistent sub-clinical inflammation, 25 responded to treatment. The fre-quency of attacks and ISSF decreased after switching. At the end of the two-year follow-up, 42 patients responded to compressed colchicine, and 19 patients received com-pressed colchicine plus interleukin-1-targeting drugs. Conclusions Compressed colchicine was shown to be a useful treatment option before initiating biological agents in non-responders to coated colchicine, especially those with side effects.