[Concentrations of tranilast in keloid tissues]

The clinical effects of tranilast, an antiallergic drug, become clear at 1 to 4 weeks after the start of drug treatment. In fundamental studies its absorption into blood is smooth and it is known to inhibit degranulation in mast cells promptly after administration. Thus tranilast's delayed onset of clinical effects has remained unknown. The author studied whether this could be caused by a delay in absorption of the drug into tissues. We examined the drug's concentrations in keloid tissues sampled from keloid patients of four groups. In each group the tranilast treatment was started 3 days, 2, 4, or 8 weeks before surgical operation of keloid. As a result there were no significant differences noted between or among each group in view of the drug's tissue concentrations. This suggests that the reason of such delayed onset of clinical effects in tranilast treatment is not the slow elevation in its tissue concentration as has been thought of.