Low-dosage ibopamine treatment in progressive renal failure: a long-term multicentre trial.

A multicentre trial (11 nephrology centres) was carried out to test the effects of ibopamine, an orally active dopamine-like drug, on the progression of chronic renal failure. For a 2-year period 189 chronic renal failure patients (serum creatinine level 1.5-4.0 mg/dl) were observed. They were homogeneous for basic nephropathy, degree of residual renal function, blood pressure, and proteinuria. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: 96 took ibopamine at a dosage of 100 mg/day (group A) and 93 served as controls (group B). All were on a low-protein diet (mean 0.8 g/kg body weight). By the end of the observation period, the rate of decrease of the renal function indexes in time proved significantly slower (1.8 times) in group A than in group B. The survival curves for renal function (pre-established end points were creatinine level increases equal to or > 20% and equal to or > 40% of the basal values) proved significantly better (p < 0.02 and p < 0.002 respectively) in group A than in group B. The mean plasma creatinine values rose by 17% in group A and by 36% in group B. The creatinine clearance decreased by 5% in treated patients and by 14% in the controls. Statistical analysis ruled out any possible centre effect. The trial suggests that low-dosage ibopamine administration may be used as a valid and safe pharmacological adjunct for retarding the progression of renal failure in patients with mild or moderate chronic renal impairment.

Bone changes in end-stage oxalosis.

Primary hyperoxaluria is a rare metabolic disease characterized by exaggerated production of oxalic acid. Clinically the disease is characterized by recurrent calcium nephrolithiasis, progressive renal failure, and early death in uremia. As the regular dialysis treatment may prolong survival, a new syndrome may develop. This is due to intense and continuous deposition of calcium oxalate crystals in soft and bone tissues. The radiologic aspects of oxalate deposition in four adult patients on chronic renal dialysis with histologic and clinical evidence of massive bone oxalosis are reported.

Thiazide diuretics in renal hypercalciuria.

Forty-six renal hypercalciuric normocalcaemic patients were treated with hydrochlorothiazide (50mg/day) and amiloride (5 mg/day), both to reduce new stone formation and to suppress parathyroid hyperfunction. A reduction of hypercalciuria and suppression of parathyroid hyperactivity were observed in 41 patients, while in the other five patients no evidence of parathyroid suppression was found and hypercalcaemia developed. Four of five patients underwent parathyroidectomy which was followed by a normalisation of biochemical signs of hyperparathyroidism. These results suggest that the appearance of hypercalcaemia in renal hypercalciuric patients during hydrochlorothiazide/amiloride treatment may be of diagnostic value in unmasking pharmacologically non-suppressible normocalcaemic hyperparathyroidism.