Abstract
Aim: To examine the relationship between the total dose of prednisolone before surgery and its adverse side effects in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC).
Method: We enrolled 582 out of 634 patients with UC treated at the hospital from August 1984 to December, whose total dose of prednisolone had been calculated before surgery.
Results: The most frequently occurred major side effect of prednisolone was osteoporosis, which was noted in 66% of cases. Medication for osteoporosis after surgery led to a significant improvement 12 months after the surgery, but did not result in normal values. The irreversible side effects of cataract, idiopathic osteonecrosis of the femoral head and thoraco-lumbar compression fractures significantly developed in the cases administered the total dose of 7000-10000mg of prednisolone.
Conclusions: In the cases in which the total dose of prednisolone exceeds 7000mg, paticular attention must be paid to appearance of irreversible side effects and surgery before the appearance is desirable. Moreover, it is demonstrated that osteoporosis, the most common side effect, requires medical treatment for more than 1 year after the surgery.
