Treatment of intractable diarrhoea caused by secondary amyloidosis in 24 rheumatoid arthritis patients
| Patient | IVH | IVH duration (days) | CS maximum dose (md/day)* | CS pulse | Duration of diarrhoea (days)† | Duration of pulse (days)‡ | Outcome§ |
| 1 | + | 35 | 20 | — | D∥ | ||
| 2 | − | 10 | — | S | |||
| 3 | + | 44 | 10 | — | S | ||
| 4 | + | 73 | 10 | M125 | 42 | 17 | S |
| 5 | + | 87 | 20 | — | S | ||
| 6 | − | 30 | — | S | |||
| 7 | − | 5 | — | S | |||
| + | 40 | 25 | — | S | |||
| + | 21 | 20 | M125 | 92 | 14 | D∥ | |
| 8 | − | 0 | — | S | |||
| 9 | + | 33 | 15 | — | S | ||
| 10 | + | 76 | 20 | — | S | ||
| + | 39 | 20 | — | D | |||
| 11 | + | 182 | 20 | B100 | 166 | 11 | S |
| + | 64 | 20 | B100 | 66 | 23 | S | |
| 12 | + | 223 | 10 | B100 | 253 | 3 | S |
| 13 | + | 151 | 5 | — | D | ||
| 14 | + | 51 | 20 | B100 | 30 | 50 | S |
| 15 | + | 27 | 20 | — | D∥ | ||
| 16 | + | 37 | 10 | — | D | ||
| 17 | + | 4 | 17 | M125 | 34 | — | D |
| 18 | + | 40 | 10 | — | S | ||
| 19 | + | 30 | 10 | M125 | 17 | 29 | S |
| 20 | − | 0 | — | S | |||
| 21 | − | 10 | M125 | 59 | 3 | S | |
| 22 | + | 56 | 5 | — | S | ||
| 23 | + | 29 | 20 | M125 | 30 | 11 | S |
| 24 | + | 50 | 20 | B100 | 19 | 17 | S |
IVH=intravenous hyperalimentation, CS=corticosteroid, M125=methylprednisolone 125 mg × 3 days, B100=betamethazone 100 mg × 3 days, S=survival, D=death. *Maximum daily dose of prednisolone.†Duration of diarrhoea before start of corticosteroid pulse treatment.‡Duration of diarrhoea after the end of corticosteroid pulse treatment. §Outcome of patient during the course of intractable diarrhoea. ∥Denotes transition from intractable diarrhoea to intestinal pseudo-obstruction before death.