The following article is part of conference coverage from Kidney Week 2018 in San Diego hosted by the American Society of Nephrology. Renal & Urology News staff will be reporting live on medical studies conducted by nephrologists and other specialists who are tops in their field in acute kidney injury, chronic kidney disease, dialysis, transplantation, and more. Check back for the latest news from Kidney Week 2018.

SAN DIEGO—Patients on hemodialysis (HD) who have secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) experience favorable changes in bone mineral density following treatment with the intravenous calcimimetic etelcalcetide, a team from Nagasaki Kidney Hospital in Japan reported at the American Society of Nephrology’s Kidney Week 2018 conference.

Jyunichiro Hashiguchi, MD, and colleagues switched 10 HD patients with SHPT (mean age 60.1 years) from oral cinacalcet to the equivalent doses of etelcalcetide. Over 6 months, markers of bone resorption decreased. Serum levels of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b (TRACP-5b) dropped from 710.0 to 420.9 mU/dL and N-telopeptide (NTx) decreased from 179.6 to 112.1 nmol BCE/L.


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Meanwhile, levels of the bone formation marker bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP) held steady. Along with these improvements, bone mineral density (BMD) increased significantly by 5.2% 6 months after etelcalcetide treatment was started. A weak relationship was found between serum intact parathyroid hormone levels and BMD.

“Although this study had an uncontrolled small group and a short observation period, our results suggest that [etelcalcetide] could be a promising agent for SHPT treatment,” the investigators concluded.

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Reference

Funakoshi S, Hashiguchi J, Kawazu T, et al. Superior effects of etelcalcetide compared to cinacalcet on increasing bone mineral density in patients receiving hemodialysis with secondary hyperparathyroidism. Presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s Kidney Week 2018 conference in San Diego, Oct. 23-28. Poster SA-PO658.