A Case of High dose Colchicine with No Efficacy in a Patient with Chronic Kidney Disease Taking Rifampicin

ABSTRACT

A 54-year-old male on chronic hemodialysis, who was taking rifampicin for tuberculous lymphadenitis, was admitted for an acute gout attack. After administrating 3.6 mg of colchicine for 2 days, symptoms began to alleviate. Despite the relatively high dosage in this end-stage renal disease patient, there were no adverse effects, such as diarrhea, vomiting, or myopathy. After 1 and 6 hours of 0.6 mg colchicine administration, serum colchicine was 1.3930 ng/mL and 0.2464 ng/mL, respectively. These values were lower than the mean concentrations in 13 other patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) after the same time intervals (4.34+/-0.56 ng/mL and 1.49+/-0.15 ng/mL, respectively). As rifampicin is an inducer of cytochrome P450 3A4, metabolism of colchicine had increased. When taking colchicine and rifampicin simultaneously, a higher colchicine dose may be needed for the treatment of acute gout in patients with CKD.