[afro-nets] Study on adjunctive steroids in pericardial tuberculosis

[Shey Wiysonge <wiysonge@yahoo.com>]

Study on adjunctive steroids in pericardial tuberculosis
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Dear Colleagues,

We are planning to start a clinical trial of adjunctive steroids
in TB pericarditis. We have argued in our previous work that the
current evidence on the effectiveness of adjunctive steroids in
TB pericarditis is insufficient and inconclusive (Ntsekhe M, Wi-
ysonge C, Volmink J, Commerford PJ, Mayosi BM. Adjuvant corti-
costeroids for tuberculous pericarditis: promising, but not
proven. Quarterly Journal of Medicine 2003;96:593-599). Our cur-
rent work shows that there is collective equipoise among the ex-
pert clinical community in sub-Saharan Africa on the merit of
the intervention.

We are now finalising a proposal for a trial, and I wonder if
any one (in any country in sub-Saharan Africa) would be inter-
ested in being a collaborator in this study.

We are looking for hospitals/clinics that can recruit on about 5
adult patients (irrespective of HIV status) per month.

Look forward to hearing from interested persons.

Thanks,

Charles Shey Wiysonge, MD
mailto:wiysonge@yahoo.com