Researchers from Shanghai Renji Hospital found for the first time that Thalidomide, a medicine currently used to treat bone marrow cancer and prevent skin lesions caused by leprosy, works as an effective treatment for recurrent bleeding caused by small-intestinal angiodysplasia.

The results of this study, led by Ge Zhizheng and Chen Huimin from the digestive department of the hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, filled a gap in the treatment in this disease field, said the hospital.

A paper about the research, an investigator-initiated, prospective, multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study, the first of its kind in the world, was published on the website of the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday.

Bleeding in the small intestine caused by angiodysplasia endangers the lives and health of patients, and has long been an unsolved problem in the medical community.

Around half of such patients rely on repeated hospitalization or blood transfusion to maintain their lives, which seriously affects their normal life and work and brings mental and economic burdens to patients, their families and society, said doctors.

Altogether 150 patients participated in the clinical study and were randomly divided into three groups. Participants in the first and second group took 100 milligrams and 50 mg of the drug per day respectively, and the third was the control group.

Their research results showed that the complete hemostasis rates, or zero bleeding rates, during the four-month period of medication were 72.5 percent, 57.1 percent and 10 percent respectively for the three groups. The continuous hemostasis rates after one year following completing the four-month treatment were 68.6 percent, 51 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

Researchers said that the clinical significance of the study is to avoid the unfavorable treatment situation of increasing adverse reactions and decreasing compliance due to long-term medication in traditional treatment. The result is expected to change the current clinical treatment for this disease and rewrite international guidelines.

Altogether 10 top hospitals in the country, including those in Shanghai, Chongqing, Beijing and Guangzhou, jointly conducted the clinical study.