BACKGROUND: Plasma exchange may be effective adjunctive treatment for renal vasculitis. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of plasma exchange for renal vasculitis. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis of articles identified from electronic databases, bibliographies, and studies identified by experts. Data were abstracted in parallel by 2 reviewers. SETTING & POPULATION: Adults with idiopathic renal vasculitis or rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis. SELECTION CRITERIA FOR STUDIES: Randomized controlled trials that compared standard care with standard care plus adjuvant plasma exchange in adult patients with either renal vasculitis or idiopathic rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis. INTERVENTION: Adjuvant plasma exchange. OUTCOME: Composite of end-stage renal disease or death. RESULTS: We identified 9 trials including 387 patients. In a fixed-effects model, the pooled RR for end-stage renal disease or death was 0.80 for patients treated with adjunctive plasma exchange compared with standard care alone (95% CI, 0.65-0.99; P = 0.04). No significant heterogeneity was detected (P = 0.5; I(2) = 0%). The effect of plasma exchange did not differ significantly across the range of baseline serum creatinine values (P = 0.7) or number of plasma exchange treatments (P = 0.8). The RR for end-stage renal disease was 0.64 (95% CI, 0.47-0.88; P = 0.006), whereas the RR for death alone was 1.01 (95% CI, 0.71-1.4; P = 0.9). LIMITATIONS: Although the primary result was statistically significant, there is insufficient statistical information to reliably determine whether plasma exchange decreases the composite of end-stage renal disease or death. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma exchange may decrease the composite end point of end-stage renal disease or death in patients with renal vasculitis. Additional trials are required given the limited data available.
BACKGROUND: Plasma exchange may be effective adjunctive treatment for renal vasculitis. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of plasma exchange for renal vasculitis. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis of articles identified from electronic databases, bibliographies, and studies identified by experts. Data were abstracted in parallel by 2 reviewers. SETTING & POPULATION: Adults with idiopathic renal vasculitis or rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis. SELECTION CRITERIA FOR STUDIES: Randomized controlled trials that compared standard care with standard care plus adjuvant plasma exchange in adult patients with either renal vasculitis or idiopathic rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis. INTERVENTION: Adjuvant plasma exchange. OUTCOME: Composite of end-stage renal disease or death. RESULTS: We identified 9 trials including 387 patients. In a fixed-effects model, the pooled RR for end-stage renal disease or death was 0.80 for patients treated with adjunctive plasma exchange compared with standard care alone (95% CI, 0.65-0.99; P = 0.04). No significant heterogeneity was detected (P = 0.5; I(2) = 0%). The effect of plasma exchange did not differ significantly across the range of baseline serum creatinine values (P = 0.7) or number of plasma exchange treatments (P = 0.8). The RR for end-stage renal disease was 0.64 (95% CI, 0.47-0.88; P = 0.006), whereas the RR for death alone was 1.01 (95% CI, 0.71-1.4; P = 0.9). LIMITATIONS: Although the primary result was statistically significant, there is insufficient statistical information to reliably determine whether plasma exchange decreases the composite of end-stage renal disease or death. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma exchange may decrease the composite end point of end-stage renal disease or death in patients with renal vasculitis. Additional trials are required given the limited data available.
Authors: John H Stone; Peter A Merkel; Robert Spiera; Philip Seo; Carol A Langford; Gary S Hoffman; Cees G M Kallenberg; E William St Clair; Anthony Turkiewicz; Nadia K Tchao; Lisa Webber; Linna Ding; Lourdes P Sejismundo; Kathleen Mieras; David Weitzenkamp; David Ikle; Vicki Seyfert-Margolis; Mark Mueller; Paul Brunetta; Nancy B Allen; Fernando C Fervenza; Duvuru Geetha; Karina A Keogh; Eugene Y Kissin; Paul A Monach; Tobias Peikert; Coen Stegeman; Steven R Ytterberg; Ulrich Specks Journal: N Engl J Med Date: 2010-07-15 Impact factor: 91.245
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Authors: Kirsten de Groot; Lorraine Harper; David R W Jayne; Luis Felipe Flores Suarez; Gina Gregorini; Wolfgang L Gross; Rashid Luqmani; Charles D Pusey; Niels Rasmussen; Renato A Sinico; Vladimir Tesar; Philippe Vanhille; Kerstin Westman; Caroline O S Savage Journal: Ann Intern Med Date: 2009-05-19 Impact factor: 25.391
Authors: David R W Jayne; Gill Gaskin; Niels Rasmussen; Daniel Abramowicz; Franco Ferrario; Loic Guillevin; Eduardo Mirapeix; Caroline O S Savage; Renato A Sinico; Coen A Stegeman; Kerstin W Westman; Fokko J van der Woude; Robert A F de Lind van Wijngaarden; Charles D Pusey Journal: J Am Soc Nephrol Date: 2007-06-20 Impact factor: 10.121