The effect of gabapentin on muscle cramps during hemodialysis: A double-blind clinical trial.

Hemodialysis-associated muscle cramps (HAMC) are a common complication during hemodialysis (HD) sessions. A number of pharmacologic agents have been evaluated to prevent and or diminish HAMC; however, none of them has an established role. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the possible effect of gabapentin on HAMC. In a double-blinded clinical trial, we compared the possible effect of gabapentin with a placebo in prevention and or diminishing episodes of HAMC in HD patients who had experienced frequent intradialytic muscle cramps. At first, placebo was given before each dialysis session for four weeks and then, after a two-week washout period, 300 mg of gabapentin was given before each dialysis session for four weeks to verify the effect of gabapentin on HAMC. Overall, 15 patients (seven men and eight women; mean age, 52.02 years) with frequent intradialytic muscle cramps were enrolled in the study. The incidence of symptomatic muscle cramp decreased in the gabapentin group compared with the placebo group, with a significant difference between them (P = 0.001). The intensity of muscle cramps also decreased in the gabapentin group (P = 0.001). There was no significant association between HAMC in male and female patients (P = 0. 397), mean age of HD patients (P = 0.226) and cause of end-stage renal disease (P = 0.551). According to the results of our study, gabapentin prescription before each HD session significantly reduced the frequency and the intensity of muscle cramps during HD without any major side-effects.

Comparison of survival in patients with end-stage renal disease receiving hemodialysis versus peritoneal dialysis.

Although the life expectancy of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) has improved in recent years, it is still far below that of the general population. In this retrospective study, we compared the survival of patients with ESRD receiving hemodialysis (HD) versus those on peritoneal dialysis (PD). The study was conducted on patients referred to the HD and PD centers of the Emam Khomini Hospital and the Aboozar Children's Hospital from January 2007 to May 2012 in Ahvaz, Iran. All ESRD patients on maintenance HD or PD for more than two months were included in the study. The survival was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and the differences between HD and PD patients were tested by the log-rank test. Overall, 239 patients, 148 patients on HD (61.92%) and 91 patients on continuous ambulatory PD (CAPD) (38.55%) with mean age of 54.1 ± 17 years were enrolled in the study. Regardless of the causes of ESRD and type of renal replacement therapy (RRT), one-, two- and three-year survival of patients was 65%, 51% and 35%, respectively. There was no significant difference between type of RRT in one- (P-value = 0.737), two- (P-value = 0.534) and three- (P-value = 0.867) year survival. There was also no significant difference between diabetic and non-diabetic patients under HD and CAPD in the one-, two- and three-year survival. Although the three-year survival of diabetic patients under CAPD was lower than that of non-diabetic patients (13% vs. 34%), it was not statistically significant (P-value = 0.50). According to the results of the current study, there is no survival advantage of PD during the first years of initiation of dialysis, and the one-, two- and three-year survival of HD and PD patients is also similar.

Epidemiology of end-stage renal disease in Iran: a review article.

The prevalence and incidence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are increasing in developed and developing countries, and this will place an enormous financial burden for health-care systems. The exact reasons of the rising prevalence of ESRD patients are unknown, but it can be attributed to an increase in the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and hypertension as the most common causes of ESRD. However, in contrast to the developed countries, the etiology of ESRD in the significant percent of patients with ESRD in Iran is unknown. In our country, the patients with chronic kidney diseases present themselves to the hospital only when they have severe symptoms of uremia, and, at this time, determining the primary cause of ESRD is often not possible. In addition, although the prevalence and incidence of ESRD are also significantly increasing in Iran in recent years, they are still lower compared with developed countries, which may also be due to poor referral resulting in the under diagnosis of ESRD. The aim of this review is to evaluate the epidemiologic aspects of ESRD in Iran, including demographic data, cause of ESRD, kind of renal replacement therapies implemented and their survival.

The protective effect of theophyline in cisplatin nephrotoxicity.

Cisplatin is a potent and a major anti-neoplastic drug in the treatment of a broad spectrum of malignancies. However, its clinical use is limited by renal tubular dysfunction that occurs in a significant percent of patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the possible protective effect of theophyline in the prevention of cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. The trial design was prospective, randomized, double-blinded and placebo controlled. Chemotherapeutic patients who received cisplatin at a dosage of at least 50 mg/m 2 alone or in combination with other chemotherapy agent(s) were included in the study. There were a total of 76 patients who were randomly divided into two groups. In group 1 (n = 38), placebo was advised; in group 2 (n = 38), patients received 4 mg/kg aminophyline as an intravenous loading dose, followed by theophyline in a dose of 200 mg three times daily orally for four consecutive days. The placebo group had 22 males and 16 females and the theophyline group had 26 males and 12 females. The mean age was 51 ± 17.6 years and the mean dose of cisplatin was 86.71 ± 43.18 mg. The prevalence of cisplatin nephrotoxicity in groups 1 and 2 was 7.9 and 5.3%, respectively, and the difference was not significant (P = 1). In addition, there was no significant association of cisplatin nephrotoxicity with age (P = 0.1), gender (P = 0.64) and mean dose of cisplatin (P = 0.8). These results indicate that prophy-lactic application of aminophyline and theophyline does not have a protective effect against cisplatin nephrotoxicity.