Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2006;21:3127-3132
Twelve months of therapy with cyclosporine (CyA) with or without prednisolone induces remission in most nephrotic patients with membranous nephropathy of moderate severity, investigators in Greece conclude.
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In the first part of a study led by Efstathios Alexopoulos, MD, of Hippokration General
Hospital in Thessaloniki, 51 nephrotic patients with membranous nephropathy were treated with either CyA and prednisolone (31 patients) or CyA alone (20 patients) for 12 months. In the second part of the study, patients who responded with complete or partial remission were placed on long-term treatment with lower doses of CyA and prednisolone or CyA alone.
In this part of the study, the mean follow-up was 26 months and 18 months, respectively. After 12 months of treatment, 26 patients in the combination arm and 17 in the monotherapy arm had
complete or partial remission of proteinuria, and renal function was unchanged in both groups. During long-term treatment, relapses occurred more often in the patients on monotherapy than on combination therapy (47% vs. 15%).
“Prolonged treatment may be useful in maintaining the remission provided that the daily dose of
CyA should be in the range of 1.4-1.5 mg/kg,” the authors said.
