Does allopurinol regress left ventricular hypertrophy in end stage renal disease?
People with kidney disease frequently develop cardiovascular disease. This is thought to occur because the strain created by kidney disease causes enlargement of one of the chambers of the heart (a condition called left ventricular hypertrophy). Professor Allan Struthers’ group from the University of Dundee have previously identified that a medicine called allopurinol helped tackle enlargement of the heart that had developed in patients with mild kidney disease. Now the team is looking to build further on this knowledge by studying 76 patients with severe kidney disease who are on dialysis. These patients will be entered into a clinical trial, half of whom will be given allopurinol and the other half will be given a dummy drug, or placebo. The researchers will use MRI scans to find out if allopurinol can reverse left ventricular enlargement compared with placebo. They will also look at its effects on the function of the cells lining the blood vessels. This is a crucial small clinical trial, the results of which will help define whether a larger trial enrolling more kidney patients should go ahead. This research is therefore paving the way to identifying a potential new approach to improve heart function in vulnerable patients with kidney disease.
Project details
| Grant amount | £316,375 |
|---|---|
| Grant type | Project Grants |
| Application type | Project Grant |
| Start Date | 01 April 2013 |
| Duration | 3 years |
| Reference | PG/12/72/29743 |
| Status | Complete |
