Efficacy of uremic pruritus treatment in patients undergoing hemodialysis, a network meta-analysis for randomized clinical trials.

INTRODUCTION: Uremic pruritus is very common in hemodialysis or renal failure patients, there were lots of available treatments such as gabapentin, pregabalin, ondansetron, etc. However, there is no quantified study comparing these treatments together, it is impossible to conduct a clinical trial involving so many treatments, so we conduct a network meta-analysis to compare them. METHOD: We collected mean difference and standard error of visual analogue scale data as outcome. In total we collected 15 articles, 15 articles, 1180 subjects and 6 treatments included to this study. RESULTS: In these comparisons, gabapentin showed the largest effect MD: 5.19, 95%CI [3.77, 6.61], anti-histamine MD: 4.65, 95%CI [2.22, 7.07] and pregabalin MD: 4.62, 95%CI [2.71, 6.62] showed a similar effect. Opioid pathway related treatment also showed a significant but not so large effect MD: 2.45, 95%CI [0.41, 4.49]. Ondansetron and Doxepin didn't show a significant improvement among placebo, the overall quantifying heterogeneity I2=43.1%. There is no statically difference between gabapentin, pregabalin and anti-histamine treatments. CONCLUSIONS: So we conclude that gabapentin, pregabalin and anti-histamine has a similar efficacy on pruritus control.

Efficacy and Safety of Renin-Angiotensin Aldosterone System Inhibitor in Patients with IgA Nephropathy: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

BACKGROUND: Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) and angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) as the commonly used renin-angiotensin aldosterone system inhibitor are widely used in patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN), but the effect is controversy. In this study, we used a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ACEI and/or ARB for the patients with IgAN. METHODS: Two investigators independently searched the PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, EBSCO, and Wiley databases without language restrictions. We collected the clinical randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on "ACEI and/or ARB for the patients with IgAN" published before December 31, 2018, and performed data extraction and quality analysis on the included studies, and analyzed data using RevMan 5.2 software. RESULTS: A total of 10 RCTs (635 patients) were included in our analysis. Alone use of ACEI (MD=-0.75, 95%CI: -1.28-0.21, P=0.006) or ARB (MD=-0.56, 95%CI: -0.82-0.30, P< 0.001) or a combination of ACEI and ARB (MD=-0.63, 95%CI: -0.87-0.38, P<0.001) significantly reduced the levels of proteinuria in patients with IgAN. However, whether using ACEI or ARB alone or in combination with ACEI and ARB, there was no significant effect on serum creatinine, 24-creatinine clearance and glomerular filtration rate in patients with IgAN. CONCLUSION: The use of ACEI and ARB significantly reduces the levels of proteinuria in patients with IgAN, but more large-sample RCTs with long-term follow-up are needed for confirming our results and guiding clinical treatment.

C1q nephropathy in an old woman with acute renal failure: a case report and literature review.

Reports on the clinical entity of C1q nephropathy have focused on older children and young adult, data on old people are rare. In this report, we would introduce a 77-year-old woman who was diagnosed as C1q nephropathy by means of electron microscopic and immunofluorescence examination. Facial and lower extremity edema was the main reason for her to go for medical treatment, and she developed into acute renal failure within 5 d. Complete remission was observed after hemodialysis and steroid drugs treatments.