Active clinical trials for "Kidney Diseases"

The purpose of this study is to understand the effects of a dialysis center switching its dialysis patients from using Epoetin alfa to peginesatide injection on hemoglobin levels and other parameters.

This research is being done to study the effectiveness of vitamin D (cholecalciferol) to modify hepcidin levels in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Anemia is a common problem in children with CKD. Anemia is when the body does not have enough healthy red blood cells. Hepcidin is a protein in the blood which interferes with the body's production of red blood cells. This study will see if vitamin D lowers hepcidin levels in children and young adults with CKD. If so, it could be used as an additional treatment for anemia in these children, in addition to the current therapies already in use including iron supplements and erythropoietin. People between the ages of 1 and 21 with CKD may be considered for this study.

The SAVE Study will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the Venous Window Needle Guide in achieving access of a deep, un-cannulatable arteriovenous fistula to complete hemodialysis as prescribed.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the renoprotective effect (i.e. albuminuria- and bloodpressure lowering effect) of spironolactone 25 mg o.d. in type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients with albuminuria despite recommended antihypertensive treatment.

This is a randomized, open-label, parallel-design study to be conducted at 75 centers within the United States. The study will be described to hemodialysis patients. Informed consent will be obtained and the inclusion/exclusion criteria reviewed. Eligible patients will be randomized to receive either Renagel or a calcium-based binder. Starting from the randomization date, mortality data including survival, death date and cause of death (vital status information) and morbidity data including hospitalization date will be recorded for all patients. These data will be collected until the end of the study (December 31, 2004, ± 2 weeks). Patients completing or terminating from the study will return to the phosphate binder prescribed by their usual healthcare provider.

Disease management using a multidisciplinary team to achieve and maintain optimal metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors control in Type 2 diabetic patients with nephropathy reduces the incidence of end stage renal disease (ESRD) and improves clinical outcomes compared to usual clinic-based care

TO ASSESS THE EFFICACY OF THE RENIN ANGIOTENSIN SYSTEM PLUS STEROIDS TO DECREASE THE AMOUNT OF PROTEINURIA IN IGA NEPHROPATHY

The specific aims are: to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of PC-ACP among African American patients with End-stage Renal Disease and their surrogates and to examine preliminary effects of PC-ACP on patient and surrogate outcomes (patients' perceived quality of communication, surrogates' level of comfort in decision making for the patient, patients' difficulty in making choices, patient-surrogate congruence in goals of care, and patients' and surrogates' psychosocial/spiritual receptiveness) at one week following receipt of the intervention.

The purpose of the investigators study is to assess the impact of therapy with Pentoxifylline (PTF), a nonspecific phosphodiesterase inhibitor, on kidney function in patients at high-risk for progression to end-stage renal disease. The investigators hypothesize that therapy with Pentoxifylline will slow progression of kidney disease over time.

This study is a prospective, randomized, open-label, pilot clinical trial designed to compare the effects of an agent that has antiproliferative (1,2), antiangiogenesis (3),and tumor-progression blocking capabilities (4), namely, rapamycin (Rapamune®), in the treatment of autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Up to this time, only generic renal disease treatments for ADPKD have been in use, such as the treatment of hypertension, urinary tract infections, renal stones, renal call carcinomas, and replacement therapy with dialysis and/or renal transplantation. The fundamental aberrations in ADPKD are proliferation of cyst-forming tubuloepithelial cells, secretion of cytokine-rich fluid into those cysts, and progressive cyst expansion and release of inflammatory mediators that injure surrounding normal renal tissue. Consequently, therapy directed specifically at blocking the proliferation of tubuloepithelial cells and their tendency to malignant transformation, as well as impeding their blood supply, should have obvious merit. General Procedures: In Group I participants will have an iothalamate glomerular filtration rate (GFR) equal to or greater than 60 ml/min/1.73 m2, and in Group II participants will have a GFR less than 25-59 ml/min/1.73 m2. Both males and females with ADPKD who volunteer and qualify, will be randomly and prospectively assigned to treatment with rapamycin at either a high or low trough blood level or to standard care (each 1/3 of enrolled patients) for one year. The two treatment groups will receive rapamycin doses aimed at maintaining the 20- to 24-hour trough blood levels at either 2 to 5 ng/mL (low-dose), or greater than 5 to 8 ng/mL (high-dose). These trough levels are in the lower range of levels used when treating renal transplant recipients in whom trough levels are typically maintained between 5 and 15 ng/mL.