[Comparison of the effects of oral charcoal capsule with aluminum hydroxide syrup on pruritus in hemodialysis patients]

ABSTRACT

Uremic pruritus is one of the most common and interruptive symptoms in patient with hemodialysis. Approximately, 60% of these patients suffering from this condition. There are several causes for pruritus, thus, various treatments are applied in order to control it. Comparison the effects of Oral charcoal capsule with Aluminum Hydroxide Syrup on pruritus in hemodialysis patients in 5 Azar hospital, Gorgan. Using a cross-over clinical study, we examined 30 patients with moderate and severe pruritus [two groups; n= 15 per group]. Subjects received oral charcoal capsule [6g daily in three doses] for two weeks as well as hydroxide aluminum syrup [30 cc; three times per day before each meal] for the same time. Wash out period was considered 48 hours. Pruritus severity was determined by visual analog scale [VAS] and measurement of pruritus scale [MPS]. Data were analyzed by SPSS using Wilcoxon, Mann-Whitney, unpaired and paired t-test. P=0.05 was considered as statistic significant level. Based on VAS and MPS, patients in the first group showed 40% moderate pruritus and 60% severe pruritus. However, patients in the second group showed 46.7% moderate pruritus and 53.3% severe pruritus at the beginning of the clinical trials. The results also showed that oral charcoal significantly decreased the severity of pruritus in both groups [alpha<0.05]. However, this effect was not the case for hydroxide aluminum syrup. This study showed that oral charcoal capsule was an effective drug to decrease pruritus in hemodialysis patients to compare with hydroxide aluminum syrup