Trial of Colchicine Versus Prednisone for the Treatment of Acute CPPD Arthritis

NCT ID: NCT03128905

Last Updated: 2025-12-26

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

PHASE3

Total Enrollment

111 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2018-02-05

Study Completion Date

2022-05-13

Brief Summary

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Chondrocalcinosis, recently renamed the calcium pyrophosphate deposition (CPPD) disease, is a very frequent affection of the elderly and causes very painful arthritis.

International recommendations for the treatment of patients suffering from CPPD are based upon rare studies, not randomized, with small samples, and thus very weak scientific evidence.

The treatment of CPPD arthritis is extrapolated from the experience of gout treatment, another crystal deposition disease.

Among recommended treatments, colchicine and oral steroids are recommended as first-line treatments, while NSAIDs are used with caution in elderly populations of patients.

Colchicine utilization is not risk-free, in particular with old patients and patients with renal impairment.

Drug interactions of colchicine can have serious consequences, especially in a polymedicated old patient's population.

Oral steroids are an interesting alternative in this indication with a potential of being better tolerated, but comparative efficacy with colchicine needs to be studied.

From a broader point of view, colchicine and oral steroids have never been compared in any crystal related arthritis.

This is the first large randomized controlled trial for CPPD acute arthritis.

Detailed Description

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Chondrocalcinosis, recently renamed the calcium pyrophosphate deposition (CPPD) disease, is a very frequent affection of the elderly and causes very painful arthritis.

International recommendations for the treatment of patients suffering from CPPD are based upon rare studies, not randomized, with small samples, and thus very weak scientific evidence.

Some factors are known to trigger CPPD arthritis (trauma, surgery, infection, hospitalization). Prevalence increases with age, and case series estimate the presence of chondrocalcinosis in over 20% of 80 plus years population.

International recommendations for the treatment of patients suffering from CPPD are based upon rare studies, not randomized, with small samples, and thus very weak scientific evidence.

The treatment of CPPD arthritis is extrapolated from the experience of gout treatment, another crystal deposition disease (this one related to monosodium urate crystals that deposit after long-standing hyperuricemia.

Among recommended treatments, colchicine and oral steroids are recommended as first-line treatments, while NSAIDs are used with caution in elderly populations of patients.

Colchicine utilization is not risk-free, in particular with old patients and patients with renal impairment. Drug interactions of colchicine can have serious consequences, especially in a polymedicated old patient's population. Oral steroids offer an interesting alternative with the potential of being better tolerated.

However, even oral steroids are recommended, their efficacy in CPPD arthritis isn't demonstrated. Interesting comparative results with NSAIDs were shown for the treatment of gout flares. These results may not be fully extrapolated to CPPD which holds differences with gout. In addition, oral steroids were not compared to colchicine which is the benchmark treatment in many countries for CPPD.

The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of colchicine and oral steroids for the treatment of CPPD acute arthritis and compare their tolerance profile. It is the first large randomized controlled trial comparing two treatments of CPPD acute arthritis.

Conditions

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Chondrocalcinosis

Keywords

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Colchicine Corticoids Prednisone CPPD Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition Disease

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

No masking is used. All involved know the identity of the intervention assignment.

Study Groups

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Prednisone (corticoids)

Patients assigned to this group will receive Prednisone : Cortancyl 20mg.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Prednisone : Cortancyl 20mg

Intervention Type DRUG

International non-proprietary name: Prednisone

Molecule owner : SANOFI AVENTIS France 20 mg scored tablet for oral administration, authorized since 02/05/1990, generic drug available.

Composition :

Active principle : Prednisone Excipients: Maize starch, lactose, talc, magnesium stearate.

Colchicine

Patients assigned to this group will receive the Colchicine opocalcium 1mg treatment.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Colchicine opocalcium 1mg

Intervention Type DRUG

International non-proprietary name: Colchicine

Molecule owner: Mayoly-Spindler Laboratory, 1mg scored tablet for oral administration, authorized 03/02/1995.

Composition :

Active principle : Crystallized colchicine Excipients: Erythrosine aluminium lake, lactose, saccharose, magnesium stearate and povidone.

Interventions

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Colchicine opocalcium 1mg

International non-proprietary name: Colchicine

Molecule owner: Mayoly-Spindler Laboratory, 1mg scored tablet for oral administration, authorized 03/02/1995.

Composition :

Active principle : Crystallized colchicine Excipients: Erythrosine aluminium lake, lactose, saccharose, magnesium stearate and povidone.

Intervention Type DRUG

Prednisone : Cortancyl 20mg

International non-proprietary name: Prednisone

Molecule owner : SANOFI AVENTIS France 20 mg scored tablet for oral administration, authorized since 02/05/1990, generic drug available.

Composition :

Active principle : Prednisone Excipients: Maize starch, lactose, talc, magnesium stearate.

Intervention Type DRUG

Other Intervention Names

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Mayoly-Spindler laboratory Sanofi Aventis France

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Patient aged 65 and older
* Patient with mono/polyarticular CPPD acute arthritis
* Hospitalized patient (without infectious syndrome considered insufficiently controlled by the clinicians and diabetic decompensation)
* Diagnosis confirmed :
* By the evidence of CPP crystals on synovial fluid examination.
* By the existence of a typical clinical arthritis (joint pain, erythema, swelling, maximal intensity in less than 24h) AND presence of chondrocalcinosis signs in knee, wrists, or pubic symphysis on plain X-rays or crowned tooth in cervical rachis scan.
* Pain VAS ≥ 40/100 at the enrollment
* Duration of symptoms evolution for less than 36h.
* No prior intake of oral steroids, colchicine or NSAIDs for this acute arthritis.
* Signed patient's consent.
* Affiliation to a social security scheme.

Exclusion Criteria

* Contraindication to colchicine (creatinine clearance below 30ml/min, severe hepatic dysfunction, macrolide or ongoing pristinamycin or macrolid treatment, …) or corticoids utilization (uncontrolled diabetes, uncontrolled progressive infection, uncontrolled arterial hypertension…)
* Severe cognitive disorders that does not allow patient to evaluate his pain.
* Patient under guardianship, curatorship
* Patient receiving morphinic analgesia.
* Gout history or presence of monosodium urate crystals at the examination of the synovial fluid.
Minimum Eligible Age

65 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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University Hospital, Lille

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Hopital Lariboisière

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Bichat Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Valenciennes Hospital Centre

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role collaborator

Armentières Hospital Centre

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role collaborator

Dunkerque Hospital Centre

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role collaborator

Lille Catholic University

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Eric Houvenagel, Pr

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Lille Catholic University

Tristan Pascart, Dr

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Lille Catholic University

Locations

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CHRU Lille

Lille, Hauts-de-France, France

Site Status

Lille Catholic Hospital

Lille, Hauts-de-France, France

Site Status

CH Valenciennes

Valenciennes, Hauts-de-France, France

Site Status

Dr Nicolas SEGAUD

Armentières, , France

Site Status

Dr Rémi LEROY

Dunkirk, , France

Site Status

Hôpital de Lariboisière

Paris, Île-de-France Region, France

Site Status

Hôpital Bichat

Paris, Île-de-France Region, France

Site Status

Countries

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France

References

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Pascart T, Robinet P, Ottaviani S, Leroy R, Segaud N, Pacaud A, Grandjean A, Luraschi H, Rabin T, Deplanque X, Maciejasz P, Visade F, Mackowiak A, Baclet N, Marechaux S, Lefebvre A, Budzik JF, Bardin T, Richette P, Norberciak L, Ducoulombier V, Houvenagel E. Evaluating the safety and short-term equivalence of colchicine versus prednisone in older patients with acute calcium pyrophosphate crystal arthritis (COLCHICORT): an open-label, multicentre, randomised trial. Lancet Rheumatol. 2023 Sep;5(9):e523-e531. doi: 10.1016/S2665-9913(23)00165-0. Epub 2023 Aug 8.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 38251496 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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RC-P0050

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id