A drug currently used for preventing kidney transplant rejection was recently rated as useful during evaluation at John Hopkins. The drug, mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), can prove useful for providing relief to patients with severe symptoms of kidney disease.
During the evaluation, it was found that significant enhancements can be noticed when this immunosuppressive drug was administered along with low doses of traditional steroid medications.
From Sciencedaily.com:
“This report documents a novel application of this drug to treat kidney diseases complicated by fluid retention and early loss of kidney function,” says William A. Briggs, M.D.,lead author of the study and an associate professor of medicine. “MMF shows considerable promise, especially for patients who are having problems with steroids. It was well-tolerated with no evidence of serious toxicity, and patients taken off steroids did not relapse while taking MMF.”
Physicians evaluated treatment responses in eight patients with various diseases of the glomerulus, a network of blood capillaries in the kidney that filters waste products from the blood. Patients took the MMF pills twice a day for an average of six months. MMF was started in conjunction with steroids, but several patients were later treated with MMF alone.
MMF treatment significantly reduced the amount of protein leaking from the kidneys, relieving the discomfort from moderate to severe fluid retention and correcting very high cholesterol levels in some patients. Protein leaks, a common problem in patients with glomerular disease, cause swelling in the legs or throughout the body.
The treatment results appeared in an issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, a publication of the National Kidney Foundation.
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
