How to Manage Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) Patients in Daily Practice

Abstract

Since the reports of Goldfinger and Ozkan in 1972, colchicine remains the treatment of choice for FMF [1, 2]. Colchicine is an alkaloid extracted from the bulbs of a plant called Colchicum autumnale (meadow saffron). It was first recommended for the treatment of gout by the Greek physician Alexander of Tralles in the sixth century A.D. [3]. Subsequently, it has been employed for an increasing number of suggested and approved indications including primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), alcohol-induced hepatitis, psoriasis, Behcet’s disease, Sweet’s syndrome, scleroderma, sarcoidosis, and amyloidosis. Perhaps the most effective results have been obtained in the prophylaxis of familial Mediterranean fever (FMF).