Patients with a clinical diagnosis of alcoholic hepatitis and severe disease were randomly assigned to one of four groups : a group that received a pentoxifylline-matched placebo and a prednisolone-matched placebo , a group that received prednisolone and a pentoxifylline-matched placebo , a group that received pentoxifylline and a prednisolone-matched placebo , or a group that received both prednisolone and pentoxifylline .