Table 1.

Studies of thiazolidinediones in adult patients with biopsy-proven nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Study	n	Design	% Diabetes mellitus	Drug*	Daily dose (mg)	Compared with	Duration	Liver enzymes	Liver fat by imaging	Histology
Caldwell et al. [2001]	10	Open label, single arm	10	Troglitazone	400	Baseline	<6 months	Improved	NA	Unchanged
Neuschwander- Tetri et al. [2003a, 2003b]	30	Open label, single arm	50	Rosiglitazone	8	Baseline	48 weeks	Improved	Improved (CT)	Improved steatosis, inflammation
Promrat et al. [2004]	18	Open label, single arm	0	Pioglitazone	30	Baseline	48 weeks	Improved (normalized in 95%) (NS)	Improved (MRS)	Improved steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis
Sanyal et al. [2004]	20	Open label, RCT	0	Pioglitazone  + vitamin E	30	Vitamin E	6 months	Improved	NA	Improved steatosis and inflammation. Fibrosis improved (NS)
Belfort et al. [2006]	55	Blinded, RCT	48	Pioglitazone	45	Placebo	6 months	Improved	Improved (MRS)	Improved steatosis and inflammation. Fibrosis improved (NS)
Aithal et al. [2008]	74	Blinded, RCT	0	Pioglitazone	30	Placebo	12 months	Improved (NS)	NA	Improved hepatocellular injury and fibrosis; steatosis and inflammation improved (NS)
Idilman et al. [2008]	74	Open label, RCT	NR	Rosiglitazone	8	Metformin or diet + exercise	48 weeks		NA	Improved steatosis
Ratziu et al. [2008]	63	Blinded, RCT	31	Rosiglitazone	8	Placebo	12 months	Improved (normalized in 38%)	NA	Improved steatosis, necroinflammation, NAS and fibrosis improved (NS)
Sanyal et al. [2010]	74	Blinded, RCT	0	Pioglitazone	30	Placebo	24 months	Improved	NA	Improved steatosis and inflammation (NS)

^*All patients in the study arm were also placed on lifestyle modifications with diet and exercise.

CT, computed tomography; MRS, magnetic resonance spectroscopy; NA, not assessed; NAS, Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease Activity Score; NR, not reported; NS, nonsignificant; RCT, randomized controlled trial.