The effects of pantethine on fatty liver and fat distribution

Although the prognosis of fatty liver depends on its causes, we feel from our clinical experience that fatty liver with hypertriglyceridemia has a good prognosis and responds well to treatment. In this study, 600 mg/day of pantethine was administered to 16 outpatients with fatty liver and hypertriglyceridemia for six months or longer to examine whether the drug improved fatty liver using abdominal plain computed tomography (CT). Nine of the 16-pantethine patients were no longer diagnosed as having fatty liver after the study period. An chi2 test indicated the significant disappearance of fatty liver. At the same time, the visceral fat calculated from the CT image passing the umbilical region was also significantly reduced. On the contrary, the subcutaneous fat area tended to increase, so the ratio of the visceral-to-subcutaneous fat area was reduced significantly. This indicates triglycerides may be pooled in the body as hepato-visceral fat and subcutaneous fat, and that pantethine may transfer fat from the liver and viscera to the subcutaneous tissue. This suggests that visceral fat deposition and fatty liver occurring with hypertriglyceridemia may have a common basis, probably excessive matrixes, and that pantethine may simultaneously improve the two conditions.