C1 inhibitor for HAE

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled ”Treatment with C1 inhibitor concentrate in abdominal pain attacks of patients with hereditary angioedema” (Transfusion. 2005 Nov;45(11):1774-84). Authors are Bork K, Meng G, Staubach P et al. the from the Department of Dermatology and Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. Abdominal edema attacks in patients with hereditary angioedema are often extremely painful, associated with vomiting and diarrhea, and have a high potential for causing recurrent disability of the patient. Intraindividual comparison of retrospective data in 75 hereditary angioedema patients comprising 4 834 abdominal attacks treated with C1 inhibitor concentrate versus 17 444 untreated abdominal attacks. Mean time to relief of symptoms was 53.5 minutes when treated early compared to 114 minutes when treatment was delayed. No drug-related adverse or serious adverse events were observed as far as the injections were performed correctly. Conclusion: C1 inhibitor concentrate is highly effective and safe in treating abdominal attacks in patients suffering from hereditary angioedema. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.